PORT ANGELES — Four American Legion riders are nearing the home stretch of 13,000-mile, five-week journey to raise awareness about a California cemetery and to honor fallen heroes and their families, including a Gold Star mother from Port Angeles.
The “Epic Ride for Dignity and Remembrance” will motor from Leavenworth to Port Angeles on Saturday for a ceremony to honor Betsy Reed Schultz and her late son.
Schultz’s son, Army Special Operations Capt. Joseph Schultz, 36, was killed May 29, 2011, in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device while on patrol.
California riders and friends Hy “Crash” Libby, Rick “Phin” Phinney, Rick “Shameless” De Arana and Alfredo “Go-Go” Gomez will join local American Legion Post 29 riders for the public ceremony.
The service will begin at 7 p.m. at the Captain Joseph House, 1108 S. Oak St.
The Epic Riders, who have joined forces with the KIA Honor Flag Organization, have presented about 20 KIA flags to Gold Star families during their 31-state circumnavigation of the country.
“Basically, it’s a message for shared grief and recognition of loss,” Libby said when reached by cellphone in Butte, Mont., on Thursday.
“Hopefully, in some fashion, [Schultz] will understand that her loss is not forgotten,” Libby added.
“We do recognize the loss. We just want her to know that.”
The Epic Riders found Schultz through John Kent, commander of Port Angeles-based American Legion Post 29, adjutant 3rd District American Legion of Washington and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1024.
The flag presentation will be followed by self-guided tours of the Captain Joseph House.
Schultz and scores of volunteers have been working for years to convert the former Tudor Inn bed and breakfast into a respite where Gold Star families can relax and remember their loved one during an all-expenses-paid week-long stay at the Captain Joseph House.
The house is nearing completion but more fundraising is needed to host the families, Schultz said.
Schultz said the Epic Ride is a recognition that Gold Star families will not be forgotten.
“The fact that they’re coming to the far reaches of the Northwest,” Schultz said, “is like a major gift to us.”
The Epic Ride began in Salinas, Calif., on July 8. The riders looped around the country traveling east across the southern states, north through the Appalachians to New England and back to the West Coast across the Midwest and northern states.
“We’ve had no mechanical breakdowns, no personal injuries of any kind,” Libby said Thursday.
From Port Angeles, the route will take the riders to Eugene, Ore., on Sunday and back into California on Monday.
The Epic Ride began two summers ago as a fundraiser for the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery at historic Fort Ord near Monterey, Calif., the only military cemetery within about a 100-mile radius.
The goal is to help the cemetery provide in-grave burials, which are not yet available to veterans. The cemetery only accepts cremated remains.
This year, the Epic Ride partnered with KIA Honor Flag Organization to present the “America Remembers” commemorative flag to Gold Star families.
The history and symbolism of the KIA flag will be explained in Saturday’s ceremony, Libby said.
This year’s ride is dedicated to the memory of Steve “Pops” Culver, one of the original Epic Riders.
“We try to find Gold Star families along the route and we go across [the country] and we honor their fallen and let them know that America remembers, that they are not forgotten,” Gomez said in an interview from Mississippi that appeared on the Epic Ride for Dignity and Remembrance Facebook page July 17.
“We appreciate the sacrifice they gave for our freedoms, and that’s why we’re riding.”
For information on the Epic Ride, visit www.epicride.org.
For information on the nonprofit Captain Joseph House Foundation, go to www.captainjosephhouse foundation.org.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
