Texas - Motorcycle club honors local WWII veteran

OFF THE WIRE
Tim Monzingo
Jacksonville Daily Progress
JACKSONVILLE —
The thunder from more than 40 motorcycles filled the air outside of the Boren-Conner Funeral Home Saturday.
Roughly 100 members from the East Texas chapter of the Patriot Guard Riders showed up to pay homage and respect to an American Veteran.
The riders were asked by the family of Claude C. Shackelford to be an honor guard at the World War II veteran’s funeral.
“We sincerely thank the Patriot Guard,” said Jim Traylor, a close friend and relative of Shackelford’s. “We appreciate their service and dedication.”
Service and dedication are two words the riders know well.
The group, made up of veterans and non-veterans, came about as a result of the actions of the West Westboro Baptist Church in 2005, said the organization’s Assistant Deputy State Captain Sheila Manning.
In response to protests at the funerals of fallen American Soldiers, the American Legion Riders, Chapter 136 from Kansas, took their bikes to services, parking them between protesters and the bereaved and revved their engines to drown out the agitators.
“We want them to know we care,” said John Bradberry, a rider in attendance. “It comes from the heart.”
Shackelford’s family knew it.
Shackelford, a longtime Mt Selman resident, passed away at the age of 91, after serving as a gunner in World War II.
According to family members, he flew in 68 documented combat missions and many undocumented ones as well. For his service, he was awarded the American Air Medal with 12 oak leaves, an honor of which he was extremely proud, Traylor said.
In honor of the veteran, members from the chapter lined the drive of the funeral home, bearing American flags.
“When a family requests us to come and honor someone, we stage our bikes and set up a flag line and stand tall and silent,” Manning said. “We do what we do to honor those who served for us. We hope it helps the family a little bit.”
As pallbearers moved the casket into the Hearse, the organization’s members stood at attention, their arms bent in full salute to the veteran. With the thunder of motorcycles and the lights of police cars, he was taken to Jacksonville Old City Cemetery in a ceremony appropriate for one of the nation’s heroes.