This past weekend there were two Tennessee military funeral missions and a welcome home mission. 

Saturday we honored and protected the family of Lance Corporal Jeffrey Adam Bishop of Dickson, TN. 

From the Dickson Herald:

He was everybody’s protector; their hero and he wanted to start his own family. But the war in Iraq put an abrupt end to those plans for Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Adam Bishop of Dickson.

Oh, we were so proud of him,” she said. “He was always the leader. He was the top of his class in everything he did.”

She said her son was active in virtually every sport, including high school football.
And he was very close to his family, she said.

“He was beautiful, he was my baby,” she said. “I’ve got plaques…he excelled in everything he did.”

The evil people from Kansas also showed up to dishonor LCpl Bishop’s family.  PGR prevented that from occurring.  The turnout for the Bishop family was amazing.  I believe there was in excess of 150 bikers along with many cages.  The community turned out to support and honor LCpl Bishop and his family.  The noise from the bikes was thundering to block out the protesters and the flags blocked their view.

From Dickson it was on to Nashville to welcome home the Marines of India Company. On my drive into Nashville I had a pleasant view of some hot air balloons flying above Mack Hatcher Drive. .

Sorry no photos of the welcome home. My camera battery was dead which I also forgot to recharge for Sunday’s mission in Algood, Tn to honor Sgt. Alex van Aalten.  Algood pretty much shut down to honor this fallen warrior and his family.

From the Crossville Chronicle:

Friends and family all say that Sgt. Van Aalten was full of life. He loved the outdoors and participated in everything from four-wheeling to rock climbing and kayaking. A black-belt in Karate, he was an instructor at Jack Scott Karate in Cookeville. Growing up in the Monterey area, he went to Pleasant Hill Elementary School from kindergarten to eighth grade. His mother said that he had always wanted to be a solder. Because Monterey High School had no ROTC program, he went to Cookeville High School instead and became the ROTC brigade commander before graduating from high school.I do remember him,” Pleasant Hill Elementary School Principal Mary Ann Kotus said Friday night. “I remember him being very smart, very well liked. He could talk about a lot of subjects; he knew a lot about a lot of things. We were all so saddened to hear about this.”

Tennessee has lost two brave and heroic warriors.

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