"Roll On" - A Tribute Ride Honoring Sgt. Harry Watson

[emptysea]

"Roll On" is the motto of the US Army's 28th Infantry Division.

My uncle, Sgt. Harry Watson, was attached to the 28th in WWII He paraded with them through the liberated streets of Paris on August 29, 1944. He fought fought valiantly with them in the Battle of Hurtgen forest and the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45. He died of gunshot wounds to both kidneys in a German field hospital 75 years ago today, February 1st. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He was 24 years old when he died. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside of Washington D.C.





He was born on September 4, 1920. He would have been 100 years old this year.

To commemorate his birthday, I am planning on riding from Chicago to Washington to place a flag or flowers on his grave. Straight through, it's about 725 miles, but I will extend the route to make it over 1000 in order to qualify for a SS1000 certificate. The route details are to be determined, but I will post that and other updates on my plans in this thread. I intend to use the ride as a fundraiser for a veteran-related charity, most likely one that supports Gold Star families. I will post details of that here as well.

Thanks in advance for following my adventures.
Harry's birthday is just a couple of days before the CB1100 Rally which is in Pennsylvania. Coincidentally, the 28th Infantry Division is based in Pennsylvania. They are called "The Keystone Division" (Pennsylvania is "The Keystone State").



I look forward to meeting with Forum members at the Rally after this ride.

[the Ferret]

Very cool plan Sea. Hope you get er done.

Just watched 1917, and Hacksaw Ridge the last couple of weeks. Between that and Saving Private Ryan, it makes you wonder just how many of those letters they sent out. We haven't learned anything in 100 years.

[LongRanger_imp]

MTC, I’d be honored to make a donation. What a fabulous tribute for a fallen hero.

[pdedse]

What a frightful thing that must have been for all the families that ever received one of those Western Union messages.

[emptysea]

What a frightful thing that must have been for all the families that ever received one of those Western Union messages.

I'm sure it was. I have a hard time imagining what my grandmother went through from January 23 when she received the report that he was MIA until July 8 when the telegram came, especially considering that Germany had surrendered and hostilities ceased on May 8.

Harry was my mom's older brother and only other sibling. Both my grandmother and my mom often told me how much I reminded them of him. I feel like I knew him even though he died 16 years before I was born. I will probably post a little more about him here as I prepare for the ride.

MTC, I’d be honored to make a donation. What a fabulous tribute for a fallen hero.

LR, thank you. I appreciate the support. I'll post details of that once I chose a worthy charity.

[redbirds_imp]

Hope this works out as planned MTC. It will be a wonderful tribute to your uncle.

[emptysea]

An Update -

Due to Coronavirus restrictions, Arlington National Cemetery is only open from 8:00am - 5:00pm daily and only open to family members with a "Family Pass". That created two problems for me: First, in order to assure my arrival at the cemetery when it was open and still ride this as a Saddle Sore 1000, I would have to leave at approximately 8:00PM from Chicago and do most of the trip in the dark on unfamiliar roads. Second, but maybe more important, I would need to obtain the Family Pass which my mother has no recollection of ever having.

The new access rules at Arlington National Cemetery are there, in part, because the visitor center is closed due to the pandemic. That means that there is no place to obtain a temporary family pass. I found out about the need for a family pass on 8/3, exactly one month before I am supposed to be visiting Harry's grave. I called their call center and they were very helpful; I could email an application signed my mother (I am not next-of-kin enough to apply for this pass) and they would mail it to her home in 2-4 weeks. I sent the application in immediately on the afternoon of 8/4 with a plea saying that my 97 year old mother is in failing health (small fib) and that she is so very excited that I will be visiting her brother on his 100th birthday (absolute truth). My mom received the pass in the mail on my birthday, August 7th so my sob story must have resonated with someone at ANC. Now, I could finally finalize the plans for the trip.

Since the timing was so bad to do a SS1000 for this, I decided to leave on Thursday, 9/3 at a little after daybreak and ride as far as Pittsburgh, PA that day. Then another 250 miles to Arlington, VA on Friday, 9/4. For the last few years I have participated in an event called Tour of Honor; it's a scavenger hunt of sorts where the organizers select 7 war memorials in each state every year. There are trophies awarded for the first people to "collect" all 7 in a state and some other awards, but all of those were set aside this year because of Coronavirus. They are still tabulating who visits which sites, though. I decided that, in tribute to Harry and in keeping with the them of the weekend, I would stop at at least one Tour of Honor site in each state I visit on my way to the cemetery. That would be Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania on 9/3 and Virginia on 9/4. For those following along, I didn't include Illinois because I already visited the site that would be on my route and I didn't include Maryland in deference to making good time from Pittsburgh to Arlington, VA. I hope to pick up Maryland on my way to the Rally on Saturday.

Harry served in the 28th Infantry which is based out of Pennsylvania as I stated previously and I learned that there is a Pennsylvania Military Museum located about 65 miles from our CB1100 Rally site. I also learned that they have an honor wall there with the names of all those from the 28th who were killed in action or who died of wounds in WWII engraved in it. Harry died of wounds on February 1, 1945. He was listed as missing until July, 1945, 2 months after the war ended in Europe. It will be interesting to see how much research went into compiling the list of the fallen and, then, if Harry's name appears on this wall. The museum itself is closed due to Covid, but the grounds (and the wall) are open to the public.

Also, since so many people are in need these days, I decided not to do this as a fundraiser. If you're inspired by this ride to make a donation, consider Folds of Honor or Fisher House, both support families of wounded or killed soldiers.

I want to thank InhouseBob for his generous offer to stay at his home after I completed the SS1000 originally planned. Again, due to Coronavirus, we agreed that housing a visitor, from Cook County, Illinois no less, was not in the "Stop The Spread" spirit. I will be staying in Leesburg, VA on 9/4 and Bob and I hope to ride together to the Rally on 9/5. We may stop at some Civil War landmarks on our way to PA, too.

I will post pictures from the Tour of Honor sites and possibly a video of the "ceremony" I have planned in my head for Harry's birthday.

A request to the moderators -- Please, if possible, change the title of this thread to " "Roll On" - A Tribute Ride Honoring Sgt. Harry Watson" or something like that. Thanks.

[KiowaEagle_imp]

It's great that your trip can still commemorate your uncle in such a fine manner MTC. You can always do the iron butt another time. The most I've ever done is 600 miles in one ride and that was on a cruiser with an Ultimate seat. I couldn't imagine doing it on a CB, much less 1000 miles.

[The A-man]

MTC, if you're talking about the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boaksburg, perhaps I can ride over with you to visit it. It's about 5 miles from the Penn State campus. I bleed blue and white!

[emptysea]

Yes, that's the one, A-man. Would love to ride over there with you.