The Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine
18
PGR Mission For James Norman By: Wally Wersching
Patriot Guard Riders mission for James Norman on Friday May 1st at 2:30pm at the Lakeview Memory Gardens (1774 Filbert Hwy), in York, South Carolina. It was the first invitation to a PGR mission in a long time. James Robert Norman, 79, of Clover, SC, passed away on Monday, April 27, 2020. He was a Vietnam veteran who served over 20 years in the US Air Force, then retired as a Head of Maintenance at Heritage USA. Heritage USA was an Christian-themed water park, theme park, and residential complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina, built by televangelist Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, founders of PTL Club. Heritage USA opened in 1978, and by 1986 it attracted nearly 6 million visitors annually and employed around 2,500 people. In September 1989 Hurricane Hugo caused severe damage to many of the buildings. Heritage USA closed shortly after the storm. This was the first PGR Honor Mission in this area during the pandemic, and we followed all rules and regulations set by the CDC, and the South Carolina Veterans’ Affairs. Each attendee was required to bring a personnel face-covering. It did not have to be an actual mask; any sort of covering was sufficient. PGR members were required to maintain at least a six-foot distance between each other during the briefing and flag line. was invited to attend a
We were also instructed to be no closer than forty feet from the family funeral tent. Ride Captain, Harvey Mayhill, and his wife Lin officiated over the event. No other military group was there, so the PGR had to do everything. Friday came, and it was a very nice day with sunny skies and temps in the low 70’s. I wore my long sleeved white shirt with my black vest. I always want to look professional when I attend a PGR Honor Mission. My vest is unlike all the others at the event. I have no patches on it, and I can snap it without any
