OFF THE WIRE
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/patriot-guard-riders-shield-families-from-protesters-at-2073687.htmlPatriot Guard Riders shield families from protesters at military funeralsLatest local news
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The Palm Beach Post Patriot Guard Riders (from left): Art Rogers (standing), Richard Little (kneeling), Doug Miller, Maryann DeLaurier, Joe Chamberlain and Mike Nuckles gather at the Stand Down House in Lake Worth. By Toni-Ann Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A 4-year-old boy sat with his mother in the front row as his father's eulogy was being read. His dad, a military man killed in the line of duty, lay in the casket, just a few feet away.
The boy turned to his mother. "Daddy's not in there," he said. "Daddy's not in there."
This funeral, about a year ago at the South Florida National Cemetery west of Lantana, and others like it are what keep the Patriot Guard Riders dedicated to their cause of "standing for those who stood for us."
MaryAnn "Cheyenne" DeLaurier remembers the funeral clearly. The spry 67-year-old and her fellow riders were there to protect the mourning family from any protesters and to show their respect to the fallen hero.
"It just breaks your heart," said DeLaurier, of Boynton Beach. "He's looking for his daddy, and his daddy is never coming home."
The Patriot Guard Riders are a group of about 200,000 military veterans and civilians who mainly attend funerals of fallen military personnel, firefighters and law enforcement officers as invited guests of the family. They also greet returning veterans and do send-offs at airports.
"We protect the family from protesters by strategic placement of our riders and our flags, and routing the family around the area where the protesters are," said local ride captain Richard "Whistler" Little.
Little, 75, is an Army veteran who served in Korea. He has been with the Patriot Guard Riders since 2006 and has completed more than 200 "missions."
Little and nearly 300 other South Florida riders - from Vero Beach to Key West - take those missions seriously.
According to its website, www.patriotguard.org, the group got its start in August 2005, when the American Legion Riders Chapter 136 from Kansas contacted veterans and bikers to counter Westboro Baptist Church's planned protest at Army Sgt. John Doles' funeral in Chelsea, Okla.
The American Legion Riders established a mission statement, which included getting the family's permission and contacting law enforcement and other motorcycle groups in Oklahoma. From there, they formed similar alliances all over the country, including South Florida.
"It makes me feel so gratified that I am lending support to (the) family," DeLaurier said. "We stand in silent respect, and I think we do comfort them to a certain degree ... that a total stranger cares about their loved one enough to stand there and show respect for them."
DeLaurier, who said she has taken part in "hundreds" of missions with the riders since joining in 2007, is not a veteran. But her father was a World War II veteran, as is her husband. Her son Marc, 42, is an active Marine who has served four tours overseas.
Doug "Nightowl" Miller, 59, served in the Navy during Vietnam but said he was not sent there because as a 17-year-old, his superiors said he "didn't understand what war was all about."
He remembers how poorly the Vietnam troops were treated when they returned home, so he joined the Patriot Guard Riders to help ensure that current service members would be protected and treated with the respect they deserve, he said. Miller has been with the group for about seven years.
"They're volunteering to go to possible war and possibly die to defend that flag," said Miller, of Royal Palm Beach. "You have to have an extreme amount of respect for those people, because a lot of them don't come back (alive). Yet they did it by choice. How can you not respect someone like that?"
