The Trip of a Lifetime The “Trip of a Lifetime” has a very broad meaning. Maybe that would be a trip to Hawaii or Europe, but for Retha and I, that trip happened on March 23rd - 25th 2022 as we had the greatest honor of being with Hershey By Kenneth Reige for the groundbreaking USAF Veteran ceremonies for the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas. What a blessing to be with Hershey and 16 MOH Recipients, a past president and former first lady, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys and many other dignitaries. It’s worth noting that on March 23rd our trip started out a bit rough, with traffic delays and missing our original flight. However, when we arrived at our hotel and visited with Hershey everything was all better. Hershey sure has a way of doing that. This trip had been in the works for some time now and members of the MOH Museum have been to Gallup many times to visit with Hershey and to do some filming and collecting artifacts for his exhibit. I wanted to share some of the many photos that Retha had taken and to let them tell the story of this trip. We have talked many hours about this trip and know that we will be back to Arlington, Texas and to the MOH Museum.
This is where we stayed at. The beautiful Gaylord Resort in Grapevine, TX. Life is good my friends.
Selfie of Retha and I at the Gaylord while being photo bombed by a Texas Longhorn. You know the saying in Texas, “Hook em’ Horns.”
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Was so nice meeting MOH Recipient Sgt. Major Matt Williams. He is a fine young man and with warriors like Sgt. Major Williams still serving, our country is in great hands.
Our dear friend Hershey being assisted by fellow MOH Recipient Florent Groberg. This ceremony was very touching. These past few months the MOH Museum Staff had been collecting dirt samples from all 50 states. (I will need to confirm this, but I believe when members of the MOH Museum Staff were here visiting with Hershey, they took some dirt from his back yard for New Mexico.) Then they mixed all the dirt together and placed some in each of the canisters for the recipients to add to the Texas soil where the museum will be built. After this ceremony, MOH Recipient Bob Patterson (Vietnam) presented me with his canister for the hotel museum.
Hershey with some of his fellow MOH Recipients. From L to R: Mike Thorton (Vietnam), Donald “Doc”
Ballard (Vietnam) Hershey Miyamura (Korea), Bob Ingram (Vietnam). In the background from L to R: Kyle Carpenter (Afghanistan), Brit Sablinski (Afghanistan) and Sal Guinta (Afghanistan) Everyone was so excited to see Hershey. He knew that he needed to be there for this event and for his fellow MOH Recipients.
The view from the grounds of what will be the National Medal of Honor Museum. Great site for this Dallas Cowboys fan. The Dallas Cowboys Organization is the largest sponsor and donator for the MOH Museum. This is one very patriotic organization and supporter of our veterans.
Hanging out with MOH Recipient Donald “Doc” Ballard. I have known Doc for 6 years and always love visiting with him and hearing his “larger than life” stories.
It was great to get to meet Mr. Jerry Jones the owner of the Dallas Cowboys.
