Sea to Shining Sea

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Robert Butts of Palisade, top left, greets Rory McCarthy of Bath, Maine, one of the "shepherds" on the State Farm Sea to Shining Sea inaugural ride, late Monday afternoon at McCook's Days Inn. McCarthy is one of three civilians riding with 18 wounded warriors from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Butts, who served in Vietnam in 1969-70, heard about the ride and said, "I'm going. Anyone who can do this has my heart." Brian Petras, above left, of New Jersey, a C-130E/H Flight Engineer with the 50th Airlift Squadron based in Little Rock, Arkansas, extends a greeting while Jerry Bremer, above center, of Vermont, who served as a U.S. Envoy to Iraq, concentrates on the last mile of an 85 mile ride. Sgt. Marc Esposito, above right, arrives at the Days Inn, evidence of the high temperature and humidity that assaulted the riders throughout the day visible. Esposito is a combat controller in Air Force Special Operations and amazed everyone on his medical team with his recovery after an IED explosion in Afghanistan threw him 40 feet through the air. When a Special Forces medic arrived, he was on fire and unconscious and his legs were badly broken. The Stars and Stripes, suspended from the McCook City Fire Department's ladder truck, greets the riders.

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