Notes:

09/02/04 Started to ad some notes here

09/02/04 Mailed Out 100 Postcards, 1 to each member of the Senate at their DC Addresses.

09/02/04 Mailed out 30 duplicate Postcards to senate members to  their State/Regional Offices.

09/02/04 Mailed Postcard to our President George Bush, Vice President  and the 1st Lady

09/09/04 Been working the last 2 days on typing up address labels for house members. Forgot how many of them there are. Over 520 so far. Will take a while to get them mailed. If you have spare 23c stamps, they will be appreciated.

09/09/04 Reminded some of the local news again that they keep forgetting about our troops dying in Afghanistan and that they are all part of the same war. My list reached over 1000 long ago.

09/10/04 I've been taking photos of the "Healing Field" and will be posting them at my random site, www.ThankYouHeroes.com . I should have them up by Monday.

09/13/04 It took a lot of hours, but the Healing Field Photos have been posted. 116 out of 1200.

09/16/04 Well, I've typed up over 530 labels to send cards to house members and applied the labels to the cards. Now all I need is stamps... Lot's of 23c stamps. Got any???

09/18/04 After prepping another 800 postcards to mail out, I've decided to take a friend's advise and allow people to donate to help pay for stamps and cards. You can only find the white Make a Donation button above on this page.

09/27/04 Well, last night I lost it, for a short while. I had finally prepared another CD for the widow of an Oregon soldier killed and the final task was to print the shipping label and stamp. MY HP972Cse printer decided to choke on the label sheet again and this time it crammed most of the sheet behind the roller and there was no way of getting it out. I already knew I was low on color and dreaded replacing that cartridge and now this damn label sheet refuses to come out. I even removed the back cover which allows for 2 sided printing and there was no access to behind the roller, tried lifting this and that, the stickers where not coming out. I thought about removing all the screws but they required a special screwdriver which I didn't have, I thought about how much and how long a printer shop would take... let's just say, the printer is no longer repairable. I hand wrote the label, went and purchased the stamp and mailed it this morning.

10/06/04 Even though the car I'm borrowing had a temporary breakdown yesterday while climbing the hill at Willamette National Cemetery, I managed to make it to the funeral there and the memorial service at New Hope. I'm glad I am always early, gave me enough time to summon a friend to help get the car running again. I'm working on the photos now and will have a few of them posted by tonight. The services where for Sgt. David Johnson from Sandy Oregon.

10/18/04 This weekend I added over 20 names to the list. Another hard weekend for so many. I've also typed up about 400 address labels and mailed out the cards this morning. Most of the cards are addressed to family names that I could find in the hometown from our fallen soldiers. I'm saving up now to try and get another 400 done by next weekend. I hope to get the word out to more of the family members that there is a place, a tribute, to which they can ad theirs.

10/21/04 I have successfully mailed out over 900 cards this week. I still have names on the list but it will have to wait till I get enough work so I can go at it for another round or two. I'm happy to see more people sending in photos of their friends, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters etc. to be added to the tribute pages.

10/25/04 Attended Corporal Jonathan Santos memorial service in Bellingham Washington. It was a sad and very long day. I have not worked on the photos but hope to get to them after next week.

11/01/04 I mailed out another 350 postcards and have another 32 waiting for stamps. Today I added 10 names to the list from this last weekends happening.

11/08/04 Thanks to an anonymous $10, I got the 32 waiting cards mailed plus labeled and mailed another 30. Tomorrow night I'm going to The Center for Social and Environmental Justice at the Washington State University in Vancouver Washington for "Supporting Our Troops" from 7-9pm to hand out postcards. I'm not sure if this is a political motivated event or not but have permission from one of the sponsors to hand out my cards. I hope a lot of people attend.

11/14/04 It's been a hard week, so many names. Today I'll be going to Vancouver Washington to attend services for Sgt David G Ries and later this afternoon meet up with some of the local Marine moms. Someone from Connellsville mailed me 10 stamps. Thanks, and I'll get a postcard out to you real soon, hopefully I'll get more cards in the mail tomorrow.

11/21/04 I wanted to attend L/Cpl Nathan Wood's memorial service. He's from Kirkland WA and everyday since his death was reported I checked to find funeral postings/story in the local papers there. I even wrote to the authors of some of the stories that appeared in those papers but they refuse to provide the information or even reply.  I finally decided to call Nathan's dad and he told me it was at 1100, I reached him shortly after 0900 that day of the service. One way takes me at least 3 hours to get there. I have always avoided calling the parents and relatives because I'm sure they are swamped with calls as it is.  Someone told me that the papers don't want the competition. But after hearing how they gauge and disrespect the wishes of the relatives of so many fallen heroes, I've decided if I can find a number, to just call and skip the media altogether.  I was going to post this a few days ago, but then decided not to until an email I received today.

I had posted on a local Flea Market Forum that I had more IraqWarHeroes.com postcards, you can get one by emailing me your mailing address. This is the letter from the moderator:

"This is not appropriate for this board. This is not a political forum, and this is a very controversial issue.
I don't want to offend you or debate it with you. I simply want to keep the peace in this community.
Please don't post these notices here. Thank you,  DJ  moderator"

I don't consider honoring and remembering our fallen men and women a political thing.  It is so sad and pathetic that so many people think that way. The brave men and women that die volunteered to serve and protect this great nation of ours. If you want to talk politics, why don't you take it up with your political leaders and quit disgracing those that have died serving this country.  These men and women that died are of flesh and blood like most of us. 

As I'm writing this, I just received this:   "The issue that people end up arguing about (I don't want to) is whether war is just or "heroic." "  And all I can say is, I'm not defining the war but I believe that anyone that dies serving this great nation is a hero.  Most volunteers that join our great armed forces don't enlist because they are suicidal, they enlist because they believe in this country and are willing to defend this country in whatever means or role that is presented to them by the leaders of our nation 

11/26/04 1830 I just got notice of Spc Blain Ebert's memorial service which will be tomorrow in eastern Washington so I went and got a case of oil and hope to get there.. so wish me good look. I did email a couple local dealers to see if they would let me borrow a car, but they probably thought I was kidding and never even responded. I'm glad things have slowed down again and I'm not adding names so often and will be happy when it stops.

12/08/04 Yesterday I attended and photographed the funeral and memorial service for Spc Jeremy Christensen. It was a very rainy day and where I was standing for a while so slick I did a complete drop onto my butt and back. With my total backside covered with mud I managed to continue the shoot, crawl back to my car, drive home and screamed in the shower.  My ribs where hurting pretty bad. Anyhow I was just in the middle of making plans to head to Fort Lewis in the morning for Sgt Mitts service which I found out about today in the paper, only to find out that Ft Lewis requires a 48 hour advanced pass request. I called the MP's and they told me that's my only option. Since Sgt Mitts' body has not returned stateside yet (as far as I know) I hope to make it to his funeral.  It's going to be a long week, there are 2 more pending, and I'm just waiting for the dates and places. I'll be glad when this is over with though.

12/13/04 I got back last night after driving down to Tucson AZ and back all within 3 days. Almost froze my feet off, guess the heater is on strike now. Why can't old cars be more like wine and get better. Wednesday morning about 0400 I'll be heading to Spokane Washington for the memorial service of Spc Harley Miller and hope it won't be snowing out that way. Anyone know where I can get a 12V plug in heater?  I've noticed that emails are becoming less reliable; I notice I'm not getting some and people are not receiving some from me. I think spam has burden the email servers so much that it's affecting valid emails. I just spend $19.95 and opened a 2GB email account with MSN Hotmail and it will serve as a backup. If you believe I haven't received your email, then mail me again at q@ourwarheroes.net and in the BCC line include iraqwarheroes@hotmail.com and once a week I'll check there to see if I received any emails that I didn't receive at my main account.  I have also noticed that some emails I've send didn't arrive at it's destination for a couple of days.

12/18/04 Just a couple days ago on the 15th I drove east again, Spokane WA this time for Spc Harley Miller and today to McMinnville OR for Spc Edwin Roodhouse and then his interment at Willamette National Cemetery. This has been another long week. KOIN news came and interviewed me today, I hope that went ok. I'm not good at expressing some things and quite vocal about others. I should have the new pics posted by tonight. there won't be too many posted online.

12/25/04 It's a very rainy and wet day out here today, almost reflecting my mood. Yesterday I added 13 names to the list that where killed by the suicide bomber in a mess tent.

01/07/05 Just added more names, including another from the NW and a lot from Arkansas. I have halted sending out more postcards until I can afford to get more printed and the stamps. This year has already started so slow, I feel I'm stepping backwards.

01/11/05 Attended Sgt Ficek's memorial service yesterday. I have posted some of the snapshots. I've been working the last 4 days to redo the Spc Jonathan Santos set. I finally heard from his mom and got a mailing address and realized that the backup of his set was bad. I didn't want to go through all the photos again and tried repeatedly to recover the set. Well, I finally dug up the original backup photos and redid the whole set and am about to post some on the net and by tonight I should have the CD ready to mail out. I am amazed sometimes that even though I shot them and have seen them repeatedly, that so many have enough of an impact to slow me down getting them done while at the same time instant messaging with some guys in Iraq wanting to be cheered up with some stateside stuff. I think it's coffee time.

01/26/05 This mornings news about the helicopter going down and the loss of over 31 came quite hard. I'll be glad when the elections are over with in Iraq. I've been selling stuff on eBay to raise more money for postcards and that seems to be going ok. 2 out of every 20 items seem to sell and every bid winner gets a postcard with their shipments. 

02/06/05 Some snapshots from James Lee Moore have now been posted. His memorial service was in Roseburg, Oregon on Thursday the 3rd. I'm now making arrangement to attend another NW hero's memorial service in LaGrange Oregon. Hope the wheels get me there ok. I don't have a date yet. There are a lot of Oregon based soldiers due to rotate home real soon and that will be good news for a lot of families out here. I hope they all make it home soon. :)

03/16/05 Last Friday I stood in rush hour traffic heading to the Morrison bridge in Portland and held my sign up and handed out 250 cards to drivers and pedestrians.  Sunday I drove to Bothell Washington to help a Vietnam Veteran who is pretty ill. I put him on high speed internet and wireless networking so he can access the world from whatever room he is stuck in at the time. Yesterday I drove to the state capitol, Salem OR and stood on the capitol stairs holding my sign and handing out postcards. If they looked important, they refused the card, if they looked like citizens, they where more likely to accept one. Funny huh? Today I mailed off a postcard to all 60 members of the Oregon House and 30 members of the Oregon 73rd Legislative Assembly. This week I have 5 local publications coming out with small ads, 2 line ads. Friday I'll be doing rush hour again in Portland, this time on Columbia & Front to catch the south bound traffic. This all has been part of my effort to remind people of our fallen heroes and that this Saturday marks 2 years of the Iraq war. If anyone out there can help me, it sure would be welcomed.

03/28/05 I'm adding a guestbook today, based on requests I've been getting. I found one that I could afford to run on this site. I've  stayed away from most guest books because of all the advertising that comes with them  Currently is shows ads and as soon as the payment goes through, they will remove the ads. I added 7 names today. Overall been a crappy Monday.

04/15/05 Tomorrow morning I'm going to try and drive to Redding California for the memorial services for Pfc Casey LaWare and then I have two more coming this week. I just sold one of my popular domains to raise money for a laptop computer so I can do onsite scanning etc. as I meet older veterans that would like their photos and information posted on one of my war tribute sites dedicated to these heroes. I hope the gas prices don't keep climbing the way they have been, when you drive hundreds of miles, it gets costly.  I just got done redoing my www.Delta15.com  / www.VietnamWarHeroes.com  web site. On May 7th, it will reach it's 5th anniversary and through it over 240 veterans of the same battalion that served in Vietnam have been reunited.

04/25/05 Saturday was another long car day. Drove to eastern Washington. Sunday I spend the day giving this site a new face lift. I've decided to ad the faces and names of some of our Northwest Fallen Heroes to the front. Hope you'll like it. They are the names of some of the funerals I've photographed.

05/05/05 I just posted some of the snapshots for Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Aaron A Kent's memorial service which took place yesterday.  I have another one scheduled for next Tuesday in Roseburg Oregon.

06/03/05 May sure was a long and deadly month. I have at least 3 more funerals pending next week. If you run a gas station between Portland and Sacramento or Portland and Snohomish and can spare a few gallons, let me know. The gas is killing me.

I have moved this website and other War Heroes related websites to a new hosting service for more space and bandwidth and a new root domain of www.OurWarHeroes.net . 

06/12/05 I finally got done cropping and picking the pictures for the last two memorial services I attended and have them now posted them. Sounds like I'll be going to Seattle again soon for another one. Last week was kind of rough, Sunday in Seattle WA, Tuesday in Sacramento CA (Had to leave Monday Night) and Wednesday in Snohomish WA, 1958 long miles total and I think that has drained me. I've been tired every day even more than normal, sometimes I think it's a slight case of depression but I have to keep going.  I've been logging AP headlines for 815 days now. I got interviewed by a reporter who was going to write about my project until he found out it's just one person doing this, then he lost interest. After the Snohomish memorial service I dropped in on a Vietnam veteran that lives in the area to see how he's holding up. His cancer is much worse than mine but he is undergoing treatment which at times is leaving him feeling even sicker. I hope that the treatment works and keeps this great man around.

06/25/05 I redesigned the postcard some, on front it has the root site of OurWarHeroes.org and on the other side it lists most of the tribute sites with an .org instead of .com, but you can still reach the sites with either.  Another one from Sacramento got killed, don't know if I'll make it down that far. Someone got a reliable car I can borrow that day? Just checking.

07/21/05 I couldn't attend the last 2 funerals.  The first because I had no car money and the second because the family requested total privacy and therefore the papers in Washington didn't announce the times and dates.  I've started a new campaign to remind people of our fallen heroes by posting daily photos I shoot on walks and make them available to people for free and the link to the website is on all the pages. :) I'm also trying to raise money for 1 or more television ads. I wish I would get less negative feedback and more positive support for our fallen heroes.

07/26/05 I've managed to save up $300 (OK $50 was a donation from one of our heroes parents for this purpose) to run a TV ad on KPTV Ch12.  They quoted $300 for 30 seconds and I tried getting it in 2 15 seconds or 3 10 seconds.  Just a plain black background with the slogan and web address and no music. Something that takes less than 30 seconds to generate on a CGI machine.  I don't think they where too happy that I'm only doing a one-time thing here and not subscribing for weeks or months. I felt like they where giving me the brush and am still waiting for a call back.  I got the hint and shopped around so more, and found that for the same money I can get at least 12 ads on a radio station (Should have it worked out sometime today) and also some real cheap ads on WB32 TV with which I'll be meeting on Thursday.  I did call some of the other local TV stations and they want too much and something about ratings week etc etc... I'll let you know how it goes. I've started another form of networking to remind people of our fallen heroes, so far it's slow....   I did have some sponsorship offers that wanted to place banners on my website.. I turned them down. I'm not here to sell stuff or distract from our heroes.  I would be outraged if I walked through a cemetery and ads would pop up while I'm there paying my respects.  It's going to be a hot day today. Going to try and stay cool inside the basement. :)

07/27/05 If you're in the Portland Oregon area, tune in to the Victoria Taft Show on KPAM 860AM August 1st to August 4th (Pick a day) which airs from 6pm to 9pm and you should hear an ad I'm running.  I won't tell you what it is (It's NOT a commercial ad), but if you hear it, let me know what you think, and if you like it, send an email to KPAM and let them know.

07/28/09 Well, still haven't heard back from the advertising people at KPTV 12 and my assumption is correct, they just dropped it and probably hope I won't bother to call them again.  I've done some cable access production in the past and know I can use a CGI machine to create a simple black background with 2 lines of text in about 30 seconds. When I drove all the way out to WB32 TV, and was told that production cost for my simple text screen would run around $5,000, I just about dropped bricks.  Well, when they told me they can get me real cheap ad time during the night, I should've know there would be a catch.  The sales person I spoke to will see if he can get that reduced.  Hell, my annual income is under poverty level.. Well, I hope the radio ad will reach some people. :)

08/15/05 I just return from Lance Cpl. Nicholas Bloem's services in Washington.  While there, I attended the services for one of our WWII heroes that recently passed away. I wish more people would have been there, when I showed up, there was only 1 person there and halfway through the service, about 6 others showed up.  I did some photos and told the woman to contact me and I'll send them to her  The turnout for L/Cpl Bloem was really nice. People lined the street by the church with flags, including some that recently served in Iraq.  Small towns truly honor their heroes, in comparison to big cities such as Portland . It was a hot day. No AC in the car and my engine check light kept coming on. I did bring along 8Qts of oil, just in case. The gas station where I filled up last night had increased their price another 10cents a gallon by the time I returned today, some as high as $2.79 here. Ouch!! Anyhow, I should have the pics posted within the next day or so after my body settles down again.

08/18/05 I just finally got done with L/Cpl Nicholas Bloem's memorial pics and have them posted. My friend suggested I put a donate button on all my pages, since he realized I really struggled with the gas this week. I told him I can't do that. If someone wants to help, they'll contact me, and besides, I have that info on two pages, including this one.  Tomorrow I'll work on Sgt Thomas' pics.

09/26/05 I started my day at 0400 and departed Portland by 0500 figuring I would be there at least 2 hours early so I can get some food and then consult with a family rep of the military about me taking pics.
Everything went fine until I got onto I-405, at which time it took over 36 minutes for the first 5 miles (I'm on my last 20 mile stretch), then another 40 minutes for 5 more miles etc.
I arrived just in time to be herded with the press people into part of the church. No time to pee, no time to talk, and after about 15 minutes, everyone not with the family that had a camera had to leave.
I did manage to get a few pics, and while I was out front, a Marine came up to me and said he recognized me and asked if I wasn't the guy with that website. I said yes. He shook my hand and thanked me for being there.
After I left the premises, I drove to visit a Vietnam Veteran , friend of mine in Bothell, to see how he was doing... 
I knew I had another upcoming funeral in Yakima sometime this week, but as I was returning home, I heard on the news that we lost two guys from Pendleton Oregon. Not good. When I finally got home, I had 9 more names to ad that have been emailed to me by DoD.
This next week is going to be hard.

10/05/05 It's 0339 and I'm getting ready to drive to Pndleton for Sgt Tane Baum's memorial services.  On Sep 30th, I was in Yakima WA for SFC L Morrisons funeral.  There where some nasty protestors there from a "church". I was interviewed by KNDU TV but they edited out everything about this website, guess they where just focused on the protestors and just pretended to care about why I was there.  Well, I got six bucks in my pocket and my gas card, I better get going for another long day and I don't know when the next one is for Pendleton, if I find out it's tomorrow, I may just sleep in my car out there. We'll see.

10/18/05 I just got done posting some of the snapshots for Warrant Officer Adrian Stump's memorial services. It was another long day. The service went pretty good. The most frustrating part was this media camera guy that kept jumping in front of me, blocking my shot.  Last funeral, same thing, in matter of fact that person would look right at me and get in front of my camera. 

I hope I don't have any more to do. This has really been wearing me down. There is an array of emotions involved that pull you in different ways at the same time. Don't know how to explain something like that, but it has
been keeping me very tired.

10/26/05 I've been sicker than normal the last couple of days and hope to either get over it or make another adjustment. The media once again has annoyed me with their reporting. talking about the 2000th that has died in Iraq and once again neglecting those have have given their all in Afghanistan etc. that's at least another 200 Americans.

I've heard from more parents this week which is good, it drowns out some of the hate mail I get.  I updated the Coalition List today with 3 more names.  I wish I had a better source for that information.

11/07/05 I just posted snapshots taken at SSG Travis Nixon's memorial service which I attended yesterday in Pine City Washington.  I think this must have been the furthest east Washington destination yet. Pine City is very small, I think 3 or 4 short streets. The Grange Hall was filled from people all over the place out there.  I went to JL for an oil change and all of a sudden they had different customer information about my car and they tried to tell me that it must be previous owners information. I asked how that was possible, considering I've had that car about 15 years and the info in their database was correct according the last 12 receipts I have from them. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, there is now a huge oil puddle under the car and I don't know if they refused to tighten things down or did damage. Despite their ads on TV, when I want to watch what they are doing, they always try and distract me and tell me they need to talk about me needing an air filter at a terminal facing away from the car.  I wish I remember what TV station ran a story a couple of years ago about the scams at some of the JL's.  Now I need to decide what to do next, can't afford to take it to a mechanic right now.

11/11/05 Thank You To All Veterans!!!  Today with the help of a friend I walked along the parade route and handed one of my cards that reads: "Don't Let The Memory Of Them Drift Away  www.IraqWarHeroes.org" to just about every adult present while carrying a large sign with the same message.  It's now 2230 and I just returned from Beaverton High School, where I attended a presentation from one of our Marines that did several tours in Iraq. I was given a table spot at the entrance and handed out almost 300 post cards to people coming to this presentation.  Last night on a local radio station I talked about my project and aired all the names I have of the men and women from Oregon & Washington that gave their all.  It ran me into the next hour but the young people doing the next show didn't mind at all... From what I was told, they where so awwed, they didn't know how to follow what I had just done and played some Neil Diamond songs.  That was great. I wasn't at the station, I called in for my presentation. The official Veterans day has almost come to and end, and I wonder if there is something more I could have done.... In reality I realize and know that every day is Veterans day and every day we should thank at least 1 Veteran. ...---..  Ohhh... before I forget... I went back to JL, and yes, it was their fault, somehow they crushed my nut seal for the oil drain.  They replaced it with a new nut seal and filled my oil.  I felt they should have given me a refund on top of that...  Still have a puddle of oil to clean and all the aggravation. -sigh-

11/29/05 I've been getting a lot more faces added to names. Been quite tedious and I'm over half way done.  Tomorrow I have a funeral in Albany Oregon to attend, then I'm going to San Bruno in California, then Coos Bay Oregon.  tried to get a couple of people to donate some cash for gas... Ohh well. I should have enough room on the gas card.

11/30/05 I'm back from Albany. I just started working on the photos for the family of Marine Lance Corporal Tyler J Troyer who got laid to rest today. Once I'm done, I'll be posting some on my tribute site.
I don't know if I can make Friday's service yet, not having heat in the car is causing me problems with the windshield and a snow advisory has been issued for this area. If anyone out there knows how to over-ride a non working auto-heat control for a Toyota Celica GT 1986, please let me know.

12/02/05 I had problems trying to get heat to work in the car, need heat to keep windows clear and keep from freezing to death driving over the mountains. I even contacted 4 local car dealers and asked if they had a car I could borrow and what I needed it for; ..well...they will if I spend lots of money getting another car repaired. If I had that, I would have gone to a car rental place.

I spend a good part of the day working on the heat problem and had it working for a little time... friend finally crawled under my dash, disconnected the electronic controls and moved the flap to heat only.

After solving the heat issue, I left Portland OR at 6:30pm with $20 and my gas card and headed for San Bruno to attend the funeral. The drive was pretty good and I stopped at a Denny's for coffee and continued until I got to Fairfield, something blew, lots of smoke and all I could do is steer away from the fast traffic of Fairfield California.

Some friendly Latinos pulled right up asking if I needed water. I told them thanks, but that's not steam. There was still a lot of smoke coming from beneath the hood. I'm still about 45 Miles from destination.

A CHP tow truck pulled up within 2 minutes of me opening the hood. He told me that the ac motor froze up which caused the belt to do something which then split and cause smoke. The ac unit looks broken. I don't use ac and don't need it. Can't find someone to fix it.

He asked if I had a favorite shop out here, and I told him I didn't even know where I was. He towed my car off the road because I was a hazard and by request he dropped it off near a hotel, gas station and coffee shop instead of their Drop Point.

Well, here I am.. where ever that may be. My car is F^&%$d and I wasn't coming this close without trying to keep my promise to be at the service. My nerves are frazzled and my fingernails all gone now and it took so long to have some.

I looked across the street and saw 2 cop cars at a cafe/gas station. they where having coffee. I told them I was stuck here and need to find a way to San Bruno. One of the nice cops let me ride in the front seat and took me to the nearest transit center. I asked him what the place is called where I met him at and wrote it on paper so I know where my car is. The paper also has the cemetery address. I thanked him and gave him a couple postcards.

I now went into the offices of the Fairfield Transit Center, they where also real nice and helpful and plotted my way to go. One person looked for a bus for me to take from there to the BART (train) system, the other looked up the train I can take to San Bruno, and another guy took my paper with the cemetery address to plot out a walk route to the cemetery, he took my paper to the back, because he wanted to call someplace. With any luck, I should barely make it.

The next bus I have to take is a few minutes away, it's now coming and I head for the platform, the 3rd guy hadn't returned. he then came to the bus as I was about to board and handed me a map printout of the area but didn't hand me my original paper back. I'm boarding, $5 to BART, and away I went.

I then got off at BART (train) and needed a ticket, only have $13, they have no humans there, just machines. I saw the chart, $4.15 to San Bruno with one transfer I have to make in Dale City. well, the machine wouldn't give me all my change, it insisted I have to spend at least $5.05 to receive any change. WTF? I looked at someone else and they told me that's how they make their extra money. you got to pay exact or close to it or lose your money. OK, I then took BART to the transfer station, got on another BART and rode to San Bruno.

Across from me sat a man and a kid. they where obviously together on this trip. The boy wanted to write something and the man searched and found no pen. I handed them my pen and allowed them to use it for the next 20 minutes. He then returned the pen and I handed him a postcard. He looked at it and leaned closer to me and stated something like; "I don't know if you know this, but here in Fan Francisco we don't support this war and all the bull involved with it blah blah blah". I refrained from blowing my already fragile top, and told him that card is not about the war, but about the men and women that gave their lives for us so we have the freedom to "express" ourselves he did keep the card.

I left the BART station and asked for directions shortest to walking to the cemetery. You can see the Golden State Cemetery long before you get to the entrance, it seemed like forever uphill walk in shoes not meant for walking.

I made it there in plenty of time and ended up walking the length of it again, as the burial site is on the lower end.

After the funeral, I got a ride with the family to a reception and then a gathering. One of them later helped me find my car again and dropped me off. He was amazed, (and so where some others) that I made it from there to the cemetery and the figuring out where the car was.

I normally don't drive that far for a funeral, especially with my 20 year old Toyota, but after getting the invite and promising to do my best to be there, I also realized what an honor it was to pay tribute to this young man.

12/04/05 I'm home at last.;  had to borrow a few hundred bucks for hotel and also mechanic fees. The car isn't fixed per say, but made drivable again so I could get it home. This was a very very long trip for me. It's 2100, and I just got the pics for L/Cpl Tyler Troyer posted. Will work on the Sgt Idanan (California) pics now and probably won't be don till late tomorrow.

12/11/05 Yesterday I did the funeral for Pfc Blake Tufts.  Today I went to Scappoose Oregon for a memorial service. I figured they where already expecting to see me there since a relative I know was providing me with the info etc. I did get a few photos out there before I was asked to leave since only 2 medias where permitted and they are already there. The way I was approached by two different people made me feel very uncomfortable even before I was told I can't take any pics because they don't want a media frenzy etc. etc. I was approached by a few people that wanted my card before I had left. I thought about stashing all my gear and attend quietly but felt like that wasn't an option without causing some kind of stir, so I left. I do my best, that's all I can do.  I'm feeling a bit depressed about it, guess I really shouldn't though huh?

12/19/05 It's now 2106, I just got back a bit ago from the services for Cpl Joseph Bier. The memorial service was in Centralia WA at 1000 and the funeral service in Kent WA at 1530.  I was happy to see such a large turn out of Marines at this service. As I usually do when showing up, I looked for brass and asked who the spokes person is for the family so I can find up if it's ok for me to shoot.  The captain took my postcard and left to go ask the father of the fallen hero and then returned with the card still in hand and said I should go introduce myself to the father and he took me to the gathering room for the immediate family.  I greeted the father with a handshake and explained why I was there and handed him a card. He looked at me and said something to the effect of, "We didn't get a photographer today, you are a blessing from god.".  I knew it was OK for me to shoot.  I told him to contact me in a couple days with his mailing address so I can get a CD to him.  I left the church service early, like I normally do to make that trip to the cemetery in advanced so I can photograph the procession arriving. At the cemetery  I saw a group of Marines, walked up to them, and said "I'm sure some of you have seen me here before"; a few replied "Yes Sir", as I shook each one of their hands and thanked them for their service and gave them all a small version of my card and reminded them of my mission to make sure that their fallen brothers in arms are not forgotten. After the 2nd service, which was at Tahoma National cemetery in Kent, after most of the people had now left, a young lady came to ma and said, "Aren't you the guy that took pictures my brothers funeral?".  I told her, if she saw me there, then yes. She asked if her family could have copies of the pics. I said of course, that's why I take them, and also mentioned that I gave her other brother a couple cards.  She replied that he lost them. I gave her a couple more and told her to contact me with the families address so I can get them out to her, and also to supply the name of the hero.

Last couple of weeks I've been busy going over all 2300+ pages for our fallen heroes and searching for photos that are free of copyright and now have at least one photo on 86% of the pages. I've also been receiving more emails with photos lately. That's good.  I've now compiled over 1200 email addresses and am still looking for more, and on Christmas Day, I will send each one of those people an email. No not spam, because I send each one manually one by one. I've got nothing better planned for Christmas than to send out Thank You's .  :)  

I tried a few efforts to see if I can get people to donate to my gas fund, and postcard fund. It hasn't been working.  A friend of mine on the cost send me $10 which helped on my trip today. Thanks Sandy. And Thanks to Scotti, a disabled Iraq War Veteran in advance for sending me some 23c stamps. Scotti is a Marine all the way through and through, he will also attempt to attend some funerals in Texas for me.  "I still have all appendages, thank god, and am capable and willing to travel throughout most southern states surrounding Texas...happily at my own expense. It would be my way of giving back. My corpsman, and current best friend, who patched me up in Iraq, might likely go along with me, he's in a similar boat as me. My wife is very supportive and enjoys seeing the southern countryside so good to go on all sides."  Can't beat them Marines.  That's it for now. I'm cold, need to warm up. Next funeral is in eastern Oregon after Christmas.

12/25/05 Today I started my day at 0300 and started to email to all the people whose email addresses I've been collecting the last couple weeks. I emailed each one by one and it's now 1200 and I'm done. I emailed 1576 people and only 184 bounced back, which means that 1392 emails made it. (I think). I will spend a few more hours sending out messages over other forums and will de done for this day.  Just had to add 3 more to the list. My sympathy goes out for the families that have just received the news.

01/05/06 Well, I'll be glad when this year is over with, or at least October. Despite the fact that I've been getting a lot more photos being mailed in by family and friends of our fallen heroes, my own personal status started off in the hole and is continuing to get worse. people think I'm kidding when I post a "Someone Feed Me" away message on my yahoo messenger.  Almost had some work the other day, but nature put a stop to that.  I just heard on the news that 5 more Americans where killed in Iraq.  If someone out there has some work for me, let me know...

01/13/06 I have posted the photos for SSG Christopher Van Der Horn from yesterday's funeral in Bellevue & Kent WA. I also got the CD mailed off to his mom.  It normally takes me longer but I stuck with it most of the night and morning. A friend of mine gave me a few bucks for gas and I hope I can make some money this weekend to get an oil change in before I drive to Pendleton OR on Monday for Ryan's funeral service. I put www.WeFreedIraq.org online.

01/21/06 On the 16th I went to Pendleton again. Today I started at 0300 and drove to Ephrata WA for 1st Lt Jaime Campbell's services.  Two people donated some money for gas, so I managed to get today's gas covered without more debt on my Chevron card.  I also had dinner with A.C.E.S. afterwards at a buffet in Moses Lake. M & her husband covered my meal which was nice.  It was cold out there in Ephrata, I didn't toss a coat in the car.  Glad I had an extra shirt with me to put on.  It didn't rain out there and the sun came out a few times which was great. I wasn't allowed to shoot on LDS property during ceremony, so I kept it outside. Even though I shot most of the events at the cemetery, for public viewing, some of the standard photos will not be seen here. You'll be able to tell when you see this set. I met Benjamin Isenberg's parents today.  I did Benjamin's funeral in 2004. They are good people.

02/13/06 I received a postcard from Mrs Baum requesting photos. She has no email and contacted me by mail. I got her CD in the mail that same afternoon.  My head has been getting worse again, last couple weeks I wake between 0245 and 0315 with a bad headache and it just lingers in the back most of the day.  I'm having other issues that are causing my body problems but I still managed to get a couple walks in during the recent sun breaks. You can view links to some of the pics at www.myspace.com/qfocal . My hands seem to becoming less useful, there is a weird feeling in them and a pain in the left one and my gripping strength is down a lot. You know it's bad when you ask a dame half your size to open something for you.

02/27/06 Just got back from Army Sgt Matheny's funeral. It will be a while before I get the pics posted. None of the radio stations that I emailed about the pending funeral made any announcements, nor bothered to email me back.  I did get an email from Governor  Gregoire's office thanking me for the funeral invite and telling me they didn't receive the email till today and the Gov is currently in DC.  Well at least I got a response for once.   I'm yet to get a response after emailing any of my elected officials. 

A support group called A.C.E.S. in the Tri-Cities area of Washington lost their website, so i grabbed a new domain for them and started to build them a new site. www.AmericanCitizensEncouragingSupport.org . I hope to have it done in a couple days, depending on when I get today's pics done.

03/01/06 A month ago a woman contacted me, asking me if I would photograph her hero father's funeral if he died. Today I received the funeral notice of his death. It ain't easy.

03/07/06 I've started to place more cheap ads across the nation, some as little as $5.20 for 6 months. I've posted a map page at www.IraqWarHeroes.org/admap.htm  and encourage others to place ads. (Well, I've been encouraging others a long time, but ....)

03/15/06 Sold my travel laptop yesterday so I can pay for my new supply of cards on order, maybe that got me angry, morons calling me on the phone in response to the ad on craigslist wanting me to shave off another 50 or 100 bucks for a great unit I'm selling for half price. I had an odd price, it ended with 3 and some people complained about that. I told them the $3 was for the coffee I'm going to need. After sending out notices to multiple radio and TV stations and thousands of people in groups I've joined, still can't find any volunteers for Sunday to stand outside and remind people of our fallen troops.  I have 2 maybe from people I know and asked directly. If this where a demonstration against our Commander and Chief, they would be lining up to volunteer.  It's so easy for the people in Portland to be hateful but too hard to say Thanks and remind people of the sacrifices of our heroes.

03/19/06 I spend 5 hours downtown Portland with my banner reminding people of our fallen heroes while a protest against the war and Bush and everything else was happening.  I got on 2 different talk shows trying to get people to come down but in Portland, most want to be seen with the anti USA crowd, rather than support our troops. They can all F themselves.

04/16/06 Yesterday I went to lacey Washington and attended Marine SSG Twitchell's funeral.  I spend most of today getting the pics done and got the mailer ready to send the pics to family.  I also did a set of pics on the Patriot Guard Riders which you can view at www.qfocal.com/photos/041506/ . Still waiting to see when the local funeral will be for the Beaverton OR man.  I'll probably be heading to Richland again on the 26th.

04/17/06 Today I added 12 more names of fallen heroes and also had 6 photo submissions by family members of other fallen heroes.  The day is not done and I've had 1015 hits already. My daily hit count has been going up a lot lately and so has the amount of emails. I'm now at 205,448 hits since the current counter was added in may 2005.

05/03/06 A couple days ago I drove to Bothell Washington after hearing that my friend Don, a decorated Vietnam veteran is dying and being looked after by hospice. A week ago I attended the funeral of someone else I knew personally and this weekend I have 2 more funerals to attend for our fallen heroes.   My energy has been really low, I don't seem to have time grief and gather some pieces.  My web site hits have been going up and a lot more people have been sending in photos of their loved ones and friends they lost in Iraq.  I'm doing my best to stay on top of it while also helping A.C.E.S..  I need to find some part time work, I can't seem to keep up.

05/05/06 Despite trying to get the word out, Portland just doesn't give a damn. At Willamette National where only 17 cars, 1 limo, 1 hearse, and 5 motorcycles. The 5 bikes belonged to PGR's that came in from out of town. Tomorrow will be another funeral. There will be more people, mainly because the Governor should be there also but not the crowd we should have. I'm tired.

05/09/06 This morning I mailed CD's to Curtis Nettles in Pasco and hand delivered a little while ago CD's to Christina.  I have removed the link to my guestbook, my ad free subscription expired and I can't afford to renew it at this time.

05/23/06 I wrote down with bikers to Phoenix Oregon to escort the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall up to Portland. I managed to borrow ten bucks and now had twelve for the trip. One of the PGR members on vacation volunteered to drive me so I could photograph the whole event down and back which I did. Go To www.SgtMyers.org to see pics.  Sgt Donald Myers, a friend of mine died on the 21st and I dedicated my mission to him.  His funeral is still pending.  I put together cd's with over 1200 pics for the riders, whom where mostly Vietnam War Veterans.  I got rained on a lot.

05/26/06 I drove to Woodburn Oregon in the morning to hang my banner at the Golfing for the Guards Event.

I left a CD of the Wall Escort Mission for both Jeff Kropf and Lars Larsen and the headed to Portland for the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery where the wall is on display.  I was going to do a bunch of wall shots and then photograph some special events I was invited to shoot.  Well, my Nikon D70 camera stopped working. All I would get is an ERR message. I tried changing lenses, batteries, film etc. and then called the camera store which directed me to call Nikon tech support.  Nikon had me try a few things and decided I need to send them the camera and I should know in 7 days how much it will cost and how long it will take. I have another funeral pending soon and can't be without a camera.  This really suxs.  I put my camera away and decided to help shuttle veterans to the wall from the various places they would park in this huge cemetery. I was driving an open golf cart and after 6 hours of getting soaked, I gave it up and went home.  My feet where too cold and wet.  It seemed like it wanted to snow.  I handed out my IraqWarHeroes.org cards to all the people I gave a lift for and handed out a CD every time I would see one of the riders that participated in the escorting of the wall.

05/27/06 I drove back out to Lincoln memorial to shuttle more veterans and visitors.  I knew they would be short of volunteers.  People are quick to volunteer, but when it comes to performing the task... well, that's another story.  I didn't volunteer, I just went and helped.  Drove the golf cart from 0900 to 1800 and was totally soaked on my left side. I cried when I picked up one of the veterans during the last hour I was there.  I spotted him on the other side of graves I was traveling along and did a quick turn around to head that way to see if they needed a ride.  It seemed that it was his mom with him, a woman much older than this Vietnam War Veteran..  I had him sit in front next to me cause he was just f*d up.  The mom got on the back seat and kept telling me how glad she was that someone came to pick them up.  I put my arm around his shoulder and reassured him he won't fall off and to also let him know that I'm grateful for his sacrifices to our country. I could tell that he wasn't home yet. I asked her if they where heading straight to the wall and she said that's all he wants to see. I cried quietly, and couldn't keep tears from running down my face and for a brief moment I was glad for the rain I've been cursing all day.  I drove them all the way to the wall, and along the way I beckoned for one of the helpers to follow me.  I apologized to a lot of people as I slowly worked my way through the crowds over the gravel path to the edge of the walk along the wall and a helper helped get him off the cart.  I thanked him for his service and welcomed him home and hope that he will come home soon.  I shuttled a few more rounds, found some food and went home in need of a hot shower after getting out of my cold and wet clothes.  I was going to do a walk tomorrow, but there is really no use since I have no descend camera, so I'll go help shuttle more veterans. I can't think of a better way to say Thank You to all of these men and women while also providing them with a small needed service.

05/28/06 Spend another day shuttling veterans.

05/30/06 Yesterday I spend another 12 hours driving veterans. It was a very long and tedious day. There was no rain and partial sun which brought out so many more people and driving a 10 passenger van through rows of cars and walking people on the street wasn't easy but it was my honor to serve these great veterans. Today I contacted 12 camera stores for a loaner camera or a donated camera. They all laughed or totally ignored me.  I have 2 funerals pending and a broken Nikon D70.  I need to find someone that will hire someone like me so I can get more money for my project.

06/04/06 I have a temporary loaner camera from my friend in Washington, Ernie.  It's a Canon Rebel and I took it for a walk yesterday to see what adjustments I need to make in regards to how it responds.  The after sleep on time and write time is pretty slow and I'm having some focusing issues but will adapt. I'm grateful I have something to shoot.

06/10/06 0025  Another 4 hours and it will have been 24 hours since I started my day at 0430 Friday morning.
My intend was to stop at a local 24hr restaurant where a radio show was doing a live onsite and get a free breakfast and plug my website www.IraqWarHeroes.org .
Things where a bit hectic there, so I dropped off a couple CD's and headed north. Drove about 2 hours and found a place to read my paper and have breakfast. I knew I was running real early, but that's ok, if I breakdown, I have a better chance of reaching my destination on time.
I located a library just outside of Kent WA along the route I was traveling and decided to hang around there for a while. The sign said they open at 1000 and it was only 0924. I waited till 1000 and then went in and found myself a table to plug in my laptop and check email and kill time. At 1115 I headed for Tahoma National Cemetery.
I parked at a too familiar spot neat shelter one and waited for a couple of people I expected by 1200 that where a no show. A little after 1200 PGR WoodCamera showed up, he volunteered to take some pics for me. Parked his bike, and mounted a pole with flag freely waving in the wind.
At about 1253 riders and their helpers from the Patriot Guard rode up. I saw familiar faces, and I was very happy to see as many as had come to honor my friend Sgt Donald Myers . The lined both sides of the path with flags.
I want all the PGR members to know how very happy this made Peggy and that made me even happier to see you there.
This memorial service was a bit harder for me to shoot, because it affected me much more than the many others.
The PGR gave Peggy a dog tag, handed me 2 for the siblings of Donald and handed me one also. That was very thoughtful.
I'm going to be passing that dog tag on to a Vietnam buddy of Donald's who couldn't make it. These are two guys that O located and united about 5 years ago, and you have to understand about things over 30 years ago to realize the bond that was formed over the last 5 years between these two.
After the service, I headed north for a reception left the camera in the car so I could be part of it. At one point, I was showing my IraqWarHeroes.org website to a couple of people that have not seen it, one, which was a 23 year friend of Don's from Utah?, I randomly picked a name out of over 2700 names on the list, and when that page pulled up, he recognized the name. He knew who that hero is. Wow.
Anyhow, I'm pretty tired; been a long day. Just want to thank you all again for being there! I'll be posting the letter Don wrote that was read at the funeral, tomorrow or the day after.

06/11/06 As I was updating my about page, I noticed that Donald's funeral was the 69th and it was on 06/09/06. Damn.

I'm still trying to raise money to at least get my camera fixed, since I can't get it replaced at this time and am considering trying to sell some of my 35mm SLR's.  I have another funeral coming up, most likely in Sacramento and will do my best to make it there. I did not make it to Richland on the evening of the 9th to ride with some others and participate in a parade in Ephrata WA. My possible host was sick and the float driver is presumed drowned after helping others search for a couple of drowning victims.  I received a roll of stamps and some lose stamps yesterday and got another 100 cards in the mail for house members.  I think I only have about 170 to go yet.

06/16/06 I'm sweating like a dog today. Don't know why, it doesn't seem to be that warm outside. I'll try a cool shower in a bit. I bought a case of oil today, saw a coupon for 99c a quart and the way I use oil, the less I pay for it, the better. Ever needed oil along the freeway?? Highest I think I ever was gauged for was $5.20 for a quart of stuff I can get at Safeway for $1.99 . I noticed after the gas prices went up, things inside gas stations went up also. They figure if we can pay that much for gas, we can pay extra for anything else. I'm doing better at getting travel supplies like snacks in advance at dollar stores or other cheap places.
The other day my bank charged me a fee of $22 and I thought it was because a store overcharged me 7cents, well, that caused the fee but the reason I was down more than normal is because someone gave me a bad check. He donated $10 for one of my CD's, well, now I'm down $32 for that. I think I'll just send him a postcard with a frown on it.
I've got my routes printed out, washing some clothes and getting ready for my long trip southbound. I figure if I leave around 2100 tonight, I should be able to make it for SFC Issac Lawson's memorial service set for 1100 Saturday. My car drops down to about 40MPH on the mountains, so I'm gonna leave with plenty of extra time.

06/19/06 

It is now Monday, June 19th, 2006 2344, almost midnight and I have just completed my base mission for our hero SFC Isaac S Lawson.

I started Friday the 16th at around 0500 and did all my web updates and emails that came in over night. Finalized and printed my drive route for Sacramento California. 

I departed Portland Oregon at 1800.

I napped at a rest stop around 0330-0445. 

I arrived the Saturday  morning in south Sacramento about 0820. 

First photo was shot at 0901 at the church. last Photo at the church shot at 1129.  Church was packed so I did not stay in there to shoot.  I headed for the cemetery.

First photo at cemetery was shot at 1205 and the last photo was taken at 1524.  I then started my drive back to Portland.

I napped at a rest stop around 2230-0210.

I arrived in Portland around 0530 Sunday morning, went for some breakfast, then home and crashed a few hours. 

Worked on photos from 1400-2000 and crashed hard.

Awoke this morning (Monday)  around 0530 , caught up emails and web updates and worked on photos from 1030-2344.

I selected, cropped and pushed 901 photos that will be sent to the family. Out of those I selected 59 for the general public and posted them on his tribute page.

Unfortunately, it looks like there are 2 more, possible 3 more funerals pending out here.

I'm still waiting to get my camera fixed or replaced.

06/22/06  Yesterday I received two nice emails and I also reunited a mother of a fallen hero with a sweetheart of his from school.

I've shared some of it with local media but they are non responsive.  Let's face it, what I do is not really news worthy, they want something more hateful and controversial.  I'm feeling real crappy today, don't know if it's the cancer or something else pressing on the inside. Almost like someone is squeezing my lungs like a sponge from the inside. I feel weird. Nevertheless, I'm getting my gear ready to drive to Gig Harbor Washington for another funeral and I know I have 2 more after that.  Hearing the loss of at least another 9 heroes makes it even harder, 5 in Iraq and 4 in Afghanistan.  While doing my mail run today, I asked the head of that post office if the flag shouldn't be at half mast for Sp Jones, he said I was right and he will get it fixed. I said thanks and handed him one of my IraqWarHeroes.org cards and left.  Sometimes I wonder if they hate seeing me, because I'm always there to mention when the flag isn't right on that pole.  :) Time to finish up and chill for a bit before hitting the road.

07/12/06 Well, I'm finally over a hump and have caught up on all the funerals. Today I mailed out CD's to Army Sgt Justin Norton's families.
Sgt Norton will not be forgotten here!!!
I mailed out another 100 post cards today.
I finally have my camera body back from the shop. Looks like they only shot 10 pics at quality control after the repair job that cost about $300. My pic counter only went up 10 digits. I quickly returned the loaner cannon I had from a friend in Washington, I know he was getting ancy about getting back his camera.
Had to use a tow truck again. I think the car is breaking down too often now. It has over 212,000 miles now. I'm now trying to find a way to get more reliable used car and have my eye on a 1985 c