PGR Mission For James Norman

from June 2020 - Issue #263

by The Carolinas' Full Throttle Magazine

Everybody Has One

By: Wally We ching

was invited to attend a Patriot Guard Riders mis

sion 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.

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

extensions.

I took the long way by Rte. 74 to Rte. 161 in Kings Mountain then south to Rte. 321. The cemetery was on Rte. 321 just north of the intersection with of Rte. 161. I arrived at about 2:15, and parked “Miss Vickie” with the other bikes. Even with their masks on, I recognized a few friends from other PGR missions. I shared a copy of The Carolinas’ Full Throttle magazine with every one of the participants.

I walked to the York County Veterans Memorial in the cemetery and took a few pictures. It was very interesting with the names of veterans on the wall from World War 1 up to the Operation Iraqi Freedom. There was a display of all the military flags next to the memorial.

When I returned to the bikes, we were asked to move our bikes nearer the funeral tent to get ready for the service. After we parked, one of James’ sons and granddaughter came up to us and thanked each one of us for being there for James.

When it was time to take the coffin with James to the funeral tent, some of the PGR were recruited to help as pallbearers. There were only a few family members at the service.

Harvey gathered us around to give us our instructions. He and his wife Lin are very professional. He said that he and his wife would be folding the burial flag to give to the family because there were no other military people there. One of

the PGR members had a trumpet and would play taps. Then Lin gave out the flags for us to hold while in the flag line.

The service started about 2:00pm. We had to stay forty feet away from the tent so it was difficult to hear what they were saying about James. When there was no traffic on Rte. 321, I could hear them saying how much he would be missed. I wish I could have heard more of the eulogy for him.

After the service was over, we rolled up our flags, and placed them back into the truck for the next mission.

Before I left, I made sure that every one of the sixteen PGR members in attendance had a copy The Carolinas’ Full Throttle magazine to take home.

I rode home on Rte. 5 heading north to Shelby. I arrived home about 3:15. I felt proud that I could stand for James. It was a great way to spend a retirement day.