WarChild Riding Group
Sandy's Toddle Inn - Chaffee MO
Bikers Who Care – We Support:
Finding Cures – Saving Children
Free Spirit
Patriot Guard Riders Mission Statement
Notice - The PGR store is open since the first of the new year.
Thank you for your patience.
The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation. We have one thing in common besides motorcycles. We have an unwavering respect for those who risk their very lives for America’s freedom and security. If you share this respect, please join us.
We don’t care what you ride, what your political views are, or whether you’re a "hawk" or a "dove". It is not a requirement that you be a veteran. It doesn't matter where you’re from or what your income is. You don’t even have to ride. The only prerequisite is Respect.
Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives.
1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.
2. Shield the mourning family and friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.
We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.
Folks, this is not just important…
It’s what we do!
Join Us!
RD - SE Missouri Ride Captain
Stars & Stripes Museum
 This Dayin History |
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Over the last 139 years, millions of copies of The Stars and Stripes have been distributed throughout the world. And, it all began during the Civil War in the town of Bloomfield, located in southeast Missouri. It was here on November 9, 1861 that ten Illinois Union soldiers, using the vacated press of The Bloomfield Herald, published the first "Stars and Stripes" which they named after the American flag. One of the original copies of that 1861 paper is now owned by the Stoddard County Historical Society and to be put on loan with the museum. The Stars and Stripes flourished during each of the five major wars this country has fought. |
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During World War II, General George C. Marshall referred to The Stars and Stripes "as a symbol of the things we are fighting to preserve...free thought and free expression of a free people". Many famous people have been connected with The Stars and Stripes: Cartoonist Bill Mauldin; Andy Rooney and Steve Kroft of "Sixty Minutes" were former Striper's as was Harold K. Ross, founder of the New Yorker magazine. Grantland Rice, Ernie Pyle and other war correspondents have also contributed to the newspaper. Several former S & S staff members and various war veterans have donated personal letters, unpublished behind-the-scenes reports, back issues of The Stars and Stripes and other interesting war-related items to be displayed or filed as reference material. |
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All this history will be preserved. A Stars and Stripes Museum/Library with climate-controlled storage, handicapped accessibility, display and meeting rooms will be invaluable for research. The facility serves historians, students and writers, as well as the general public. |
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Deputy Lonnie C. Coburn Memorial Bike Ride
Motorcycle ride evokes bittersweet memories
By TONY HOLTHernando Today
RIDGE MANOR FL — The frigid weather added something to the memorial.
It conjured up unwelcome memories for Jeff Duvall.
“This is really bittersweet,” he said, walking through a fleet of roaring motorcycles. “It was very cold that day like it is this morning.”
Duvall helped organize Saturday’s Deputy Lonnie C. Coburn Memorial Bike Ride, which included more than 100 bikers from across the region — many of whom were law en-forcement officers in Hernando County and neighboring de-partments.
Coburn was the only Hernando deputy to be killed in the line of duty. He was shot Feb. 21, 1978, outside the Stop ‘n’ Go convenience store in Ridge Manor by two men, Ulysses Mack Ruffin Jr. and Freddie Lee Hall, who were wanted in connection with the murder of a pregnant woman in Leesburg.
Hernando County Sheriff Richard B. Nugent and County Commissioner Dave Russell were among the riders Saturday, along with Coburn’s son, grandson, aunts and uncles. One of Coburn’s sisters rode on the same bike as Duvall.
Traffic along State Road 50 at the U.S. 301 intersection was stopped for several minutes as the motorcyclists took off from their starting point. They traveled through Brooksville before stopping at Florida Hills Memorial Gardens along Spring Hill Drive, where a service was held.
“Lonnie is here in spirit,” said Duvall, who was a deputy when Coburn was killed. In fact, he was relieved by Coburn the day of the shooting.
An hour or so after he took Duvall’s place at the Ridge Manor substation, Coburn responded to the intersection of U.S. 98 and S.R. 50 after the clerk at the Stop ‘n’ Go had called to report two suspicious men walking in and out of her store.
Coburn, armed with a shotgun, ordered the two men to stop and put up their hands. While the deputy searched one of the men, the other jumped him, pulled his handgun from his holster and shot him.
Coburn was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but it only covered his front and back. The bullet pierced through his right side, missing the vest.
Hall and Ruffin were arrested more than six hours later in Dade City following an extensive manhunt. Ruffin was sentenced to life in prison while Hall was sentenced to die. He remains on death row.
“It’s so nice that so many people remember Lonnie,” said Wanda Piner, Coburn’s aunt, who attended the memorial ride. “He was such a great guy.”