ALR-136 History - American Legion Rider's Post 136

ALR 136 History

ALR National History

Patriot Guard the Beginning

History of ALR 136

American Legion members of Post 136 Cregg Hansen and Bill Baber made their first trip to Cripple Creek Colorado for the Salute To American Veterans / POW- MIA Recognition ride in August of 1998. The American Legion Riders of Colorado were involved in organizing this event.

In August 2001 on their fourth trip to the Rally in Cripple Creek Cregg Hansen and Bill Baber were joined by other motorcyclists from Kansas Dwight Miller, Gary Bird, Pete Delusie, Mike Bird and Steve Marvin. While at Cripple Creek they obtained information about the American Legion Riders from the Colorado Legion Riders, when they returned to Kansas , Dwight Miller and Steve Marvin contacted founding member Bill Kaledas from Michigan, Cregg Hansen contacted President of the Legion Riders in Colorado Roy Box. With the assistance of Bill and Roy furnishing information about the Legion Riders these American Legion members along with other Legion members they recruited, held their first meeting (s) at Post 136, Mulvane, Kansas and Post 268, Sedgwick Kansas in September 2001.

With many phone calls, e-mails and letters and the assistance of Department Adjutant Chuck Yunker , a solid foundation of the Legion Riders Mission and Purpose was established including approval of the By-Laws by Department in which the Kansas Legions Riders will operate. The Kansas Department Executive Committee approved the Kansas American Legion Riders to form and operate under the Kansas American Legion in February of 2002.

Then Department American Legion Commander Russell Shughart appointed Cregg Hansen as Chairman, Bill Baber as Co- Chairman and Dwight Miller as Committeeman, to serve on the Department American Legion Riders Committee, their duties are to serve as Liaison between the Department of Kansas American Legion and the Kansas Legion Riders, to carry out and enforce the By-Laws of the Kansas American Legion Riders and to furnish an annual report to the Department American Legion.

National American Legion Rider History

The Beginning of the American Legion Rider's as told by one of it's founders.

In the fall of 1993 Chuck (Tramp) Dare shared a dream with then Post Commander (Polka) Bill Kaledas at the American Legion Post 396 in Garden City, Michigan. The idea came about to start a motorcycle association that would operate within the American Legion. The idea was to provide an atmosphere whereas Post, Auxiliary and S.A.L.. members, who shared an enthusiasm for motorcycles, could come together. It was meant to be a family oriented group.

Not knowing how to start this group up, and stay within the scope of the American Legion, a letter was written to then Department Adjutant Hubert Hess. In his November 19th, 1993 reply he stated that it "Sounds like a great idea". In this letter, and follow-up phone conversations, he gave us instructions on how to manage this program at our Post. He also provided us information on how to get approval for the use of the American Legion Emblem. We then sought to get this program recognized through our Post Membership. The idea was brought up at our Post meeting to have our Post sponsor the group to be known as the "American Legion Riders". It was passed by our members and thus became the birth of the first American Legion Riders group.

We started with just a small group. Within a few months we grew to nineteen members. We worked on developing a set of by-laws to help us to provide structure to our group. We designed an emblem for the American Legion Riders. This emblem, contained within its design, the emblem of the American Legion. Working closely with our Department Adjutant we were able to gain approval, by the national headquarters of the American Legion, to have our emblem manufactured for our group. This emblem is worn today by Legion Rider groups throughout the country.

Another important decision we made, with concurrence of our Department Adjutant, was to not require members that wanted to become legion Riders to transfer to our Post. Our Post sponsored the American Legion Rider group, but not all of our members belong to our Post. We felt that if we required members to transfer to our Post that this would cause a lot of hard feelings in other Post near our own community. What we soon found out was that our membership grew, not from current legion members, but many joined the American Legion to become members of the American Legion Riders. A very conservative estimate would say that over half of our current membership joined the American Legion to enable them to join the Riders.

Right after starting we proceeded to get down to "business". Our objective was to support the aims and purposes of the American Legion, through service to our Community, State and Nation. We did such things as putting on a "Bingo" at the VA Hospital, putting on fundraisers for local charities, participating in motorcycle "runs" to raise money for charity and participation in ceremonies and parades. We gained a lot of respect in both the American Legion community as well as our own community.

In 1996 we had an article published about the American Legion Riders in the American Legion National publication of the "Dispatch". An article in the American Legion Magazine soon followed up this article. In about 1996 "Tramp" moved to Texas, where he did a great job of promoting the Legion Rider program there. Today, there are groups of American Legion Riders throughout the country.

Bill Kaledas

On Guard (Patriot Guard the Beginning)

The following article is from the American Legion Magazine.

When grieving families of fallen U.S. service members came under attack by the Westboro Baptist Church, American Legion Riders responded by forming the Patriot Guard.

By Steve Brooks

Monday, November 3, 2008

Their image has become almost synonymous with military burials in Kansas: men and women, dressed in leather vests and bandanas, straddling Harley Davidson’s and riding into small towns across the state. Their mission is simple: stand guard against a religious group that protests not only the war on terror, but the Americans fighting it and families who have lost loved ones in the conflict.

The riders form an impenetrable line around the funeral and reverently rev their engines to drown out the sounds of protesters. The Kansas Patriot Guard has stood watch at more than 60 funerals during the past three years. Moreover, the Guard has made an impact on those families it has supported.

"God bless each of you for sacrificing your time for such a noble cause," reads one thank-you note to the Guard. "The funeral of my son and the graveside service were all very memorable, due in large part to your efforts. I really don't have words to convey the thankfulness in my heart for all you have done."

Another: "It is nice to know that there are people out there willing to sacrifice their time to ensure that the sanctity of memorials and funerals is protected from people who spew a message of hate." In fact, the Kansas Patriot Guard's efforts earned members the mantle of 2006 Kansans of the Year, awarded by the Topeka Capital-Journal.

"We don't do this because we want recognition," says Legionnaire Terry "Darkhorse" Houck, one of the Patriot Guard's founding members. "This is something that we, as veterans, need to do. These men and women paid the ultimate price in the service of their country. They deserve a ceremony befitting of a hero, and so do their families."

Houck says the Patriot Guard wants to make sure that nothing gets in the way of a burial with military honors. "That's our mission, and we're resolved to carry it out as long as necessary," he says. "It's easy to stand up for the fallen."

The Beginning. In July 2005, Terry's wife, Carol, read an article in the newspaper that deeply disturbed her. Members of the Westboro, Kan., Baptist Church had disrupted the funeral of Army Spc. Jared Hartley in Newkirk, Okla., by showing up to demonstrate against what they consider to be a depraved United States.

After watching the group's protest on TV, Carol spoke with Terry about the possibility of showing up themselves at military funerals to pay their respects to fallen soldiers and their families. Terry took the idea to other American Legion Riders at Post 136 in Mulvane, Kan., and the seed for the Kansas Patriot Guard was planted.

Riders appointed a committee that included Houck, Cregg "Bronco6" Hansen, Steve "McDaddy" McDonald and Bill "Wild Bill" Logan to establish the group's mission, procedures and guidelines. Dennis "Tatonka" Scuffham, Greg "Ebay" Hansen, Richard "Stretch" Strothman and Doug "Grey Eagle" Lehman joined in.

The Kansas Patriot Guard's first mission was in Chelsea, Okla., at the funeral of Sgt. John Doles. Westboro Baptist members had planned a protest, and the Guard wanted to keep the church from interfering, but there was the matter of getting permission from the family.

"I dialed the number, all except the last number - I couldn't dial it," Terry recalls. "I thought, ‘What do you say?' What do you say when you call somebody and try to explain this to them? One night, I finally got up enough nerve to call and talk to the mom and the dad. Naturally, they're making arrangements for their son's funeral.

"Someone in the family answered the phone, a woman, and she asked, ‘Who are you with, now?' I said I was with the Kansas American Legion Riders, and that we had heard about Sgt. Dole being killed and would like to attend the funeral, if possible."

"She asked, ‘Why do you want to do that?' I told her I didn't know how this was going to sound, but there were going to be some church groups coming to the funeral to picket. She said, ‘You've got to be kidding me.'"

Terry ended up talking to Dole's father and received an invitation to the funeral. Then a call went out to the Chelsea chief of police.

"He told me not to come," Terry says. "‘We don't want your kind here.'"

"They wouldn't let us in town for 30 minutes," Cregg Hansen adds.

Houck talked with the police chief and explained the Riders' mission. After some debate, the chief gave the group permission to attend.

"They had, like, 45 (law-enforcement officials) there," Terry said. "They even had a sniper. We're down there, and (the chief) took my name and my Social Security number, my address. I'd given them Cregg Hansen's name and number. (The chief) told me, ‘I want you to know that if something goes bad here, you and Cregg Hansen are going to be the first ones arrested.'"

Nothing went bad.

Practice Makes Perfect. After more than 60 missions, the Kansas Patriot Guard has its role down to a science, though protecting funerals is by no means simple. In addition to making and maintaining contact with family members of a fallen service member, Houck and/or the ride captain reach out to the military casualty assistance officer and local law-enforcement officials in advance.

The Riders then scout the church and cemetery to choose and secure a staging area.

The ride captain works with local law enforcement to come up with a safe procession route and, if requested, will arrange and provide escort for the fallen service member from the airport to the funeral home.

The captain then creates a ride itinerary, posts it on the Guard's Web site, and e-mails it to members. On the day of the funeral, the Guard arrives 90 minutes early. Usually the funeral procession is led by law-enforcement officials. Since that first mission, the relationship between the Guard and local police has improved. "They respect what we do," Houck said. "We've had state troopers volunteer to get us there. They're doing it on their own."

From meeting with casualty assistance officers to scouting the funeral site, a mission often requires 20 to 30 hours from Guard members. In addition, driving motorcycles on the highway is fraught with risk.

"It's a very dangerous mission," Houck said. "We've had a couple of people get hurt. But we stress safety. Any mission we're involved with - either 100 percent or just a little - we tend to kind of take over, because we've got our name out there. We have people who will remove you from the mission if you don't follow orders."

Neither time nor weather prevents the Kansas Patriot Guard from showing up at a military funeral.

"We've left as early as 4 in the morning when it's been 12 degrees," Terry said.

Other Patriot Guards are springing up around the country. Hansen used his Legion Riders contacts to spread the word about the program, saying it got a good start because original Patriot Guard members were also Legionnaires. "Having The American Legion name there, behind what we were doing at the beginning, helped a lot," he said.

And it keeps growing. "We've had people want to start a Legion Rider chapter because they want to be a part of the Patriot Guard," Cregg said.

Safeguarding the sanctity of military funerals remains the Guard's priority, even if Westboro Baptist Church ceases its protests.

"There's going to be a Patriot Guard when they're all gone," Cregg said. "As long as this war's going on, we'll be there."

Steve Brooks is senior editor of The American Legion Magazine.