April, 1976

Rick Monday Saves the American Flag

One player in particular, centerfielder Rick Monday, will forever be in my memory. It was on this day, thirty years ago, during our nation’s bicentennial, during an untelevised day game in Los Angeles against the Dodgers that two pieces of human debris took the field and attempted to burn the American flag…but they hadn’t counted on Rick Monday.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Rick Monday saving the American flag, the Los Angeles Dodgers recognized Rick Monday on Sunday, April 23 with a video tribute.

So, what exactly does this have to do with the Patriot Guard Riders? {note: If you go to the PGR site, go to the Forums, go to Special Missions and you will find the thread for Rick Monday Saving Old Glory}.

PGR is escorting Mrs. Monday who is carrying the original Flag from that day across the United States for a special event at Dodger Stadium in California. 

In addition:

On April 25, 2006 there was a flag flown by the 101st Airborne Medvac unit in Iraq, to pay honor to Rick Monday, a Marine Corps veteran, who committed an unselfish act of Patriotism in 1976 on a ball field as protesters were about to burn our American flag. The flag that was flown in Iraq was sent to Mrs. Monday in hopes that she would forward it to her husband as a token of his support for his beloved country.  To pick up this very flag in Florida and take it to Los Angeles, California to Dodger stadium to present it to Rick in a post-game ceremony on 4th of July, preceding the 4th celebration.

I encourage you to go read the threads about this mission and what it takes to coordinate a multi-state relay of riders.  Each state has events and hand-offs of Mrs. Monday and her brother.  There’s a 14 page thread to date and growing every day.  What is most amazing is that PGR didn’t expect Mrs. Monday to be making this trip but the lady is definitely a trooper.  So far they’ve gone from Florida to Georgia to Tennessee to Kentucky.  Tomorrow is the hand-off to Indiana and from there they head to Illinois (….Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally California).  What a journey she is taking across the country on the back of a motorcycle. 

Update June 25th:  I have to add this post from the Patriot Guard forum.  This is what this journey means to Mrs. Monday and some of the Vets with whom she’s interacted.

To echo Dinky’s post and add a little. From what I understand Barbarbalee was just going to have the PGR relay the Flag to Ca. and pick it up there. She then decided “What the heck” and chose to accompany it. Then she was going to just ride in her cage. That didn’t last long as she was talked into riding on the back of the bikes, and her brother joined her. They have been on the bikes almost constantly since leaving Fl. Now bear in mind they have never been on bike before, and her brother has some back problems, but they are sticking it out. They have already been in all type of weather and when I was with them, you can see it’s taking a toll on them, the long days are also getting to them, but they are sticking it out.Now for the delays/change in routes. When someone comes up to her, she is one that can’t say no. She will stay and talk to you and will not leave anyone out. If you sit and talk with her as she tells stories of her stops, you will realize this is in her heart and not some publicity stunt. While she was in Illinois and we were getting her something to eat she related a story of one of the hospitals she stopped at. She went into the room of one of the patients with the ‘76 Flag, started talking to him and asked if he wanted to hold it. Now remember this Flag has very seldom been out of it’s protective case. It was taken out and handed to him. He was holding it for a while, then Mrs. Monday said she saw his hands starting to shake and he started crying. Mrs. Monday getting worried asked him “Whats the matter?” He replied to her “Mrs. Monday I have shrapnel in my hands and a piece is starting to come out and I don’t want to bleed on the Flag” Now I can’t tell it as good as her, but believe me we were all in tears.

Best advise I can give it try to be at the hand off points as the routes can and will change. If I had gone to where I was going to meet-up I would have missed them due to a change in plans, and I know others in Illinois missed her because of the change. So please don’t be upset if you have to wait or the route gets changed, I had to wait 4 hours and didn’t get to go as far as I wanted, but I would not have missed it for the world.