FORKS — Fourteen soldiers recuperating from injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan braved windy weather to fish for steelhead in the rivers near Forks on Thursday.
The excursion was provided free to the 12 men and two women because of donations from people in Forks, said Bob Gooding, owner of Olympic Sporting Goods, who organized the outing.
“It didn’t cost them a dime,” he said Thursday.
The soldiers, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the former Fort Lewis south of Tacoma, are being helped by the Wounded Warriors Project, a nonprofit group formed by veterans to assist wounded service members returning from deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The project helps soldiers transition back into their jobs in the military or as civilians.
“Tuck Harry [a local fishing guide] came in to me last year and said that he wanted to do something to get those guys over here,” Gooding said.
“We all thought it was a fine idea.”
Enthusiastic response
Gooding said that once he started working on it, the event snowballed.
“I had several guides who are actually a little mad that I didn’t call them,” Gooding said.
“I have a list of about 40 guides and the first 10 I called said yes — even if they had prior appointments they said they’d cancel them to help out with this.”
Originally about 20 soldiers had signed up for the outing in which two soldiers were grouped with a guide for steelhead fishing.
However, because the weather called for strong winds on Thursday, some of them were not cleared by the doctors to go.
“[The weather] wasn’t looking very good for a while — though it turned out it wasn’t bad at all,” Gooding said.
“But some of the guys with more serious injuries the doctors just couldn’t release them.”
Many donations
Gooding said that so many businesses in Forks had offered lodging, funding and help he couldn’t recall them all.
“It is kind of amazing, but it isn’t surprising,” he said. “Not when you live here for a while.
“It is just how it is out here in Forks.”
Local residents socialized with the soldiers at a dinner on Wednesday evening, and another dinner was planned Thursday.
“On Wednesday, we were supposed to be done by about 6, but it was 9:30 or so before we were out of there because we got to yakking,” Gooding said.
He said the gathering at the Forks Elks Lodge was likely to continue late into the night Thursday as people exchanged stories.
“We’ll have a lot of fun talking about who caught a fish and who didn’t,” he said, “not to mention those who fell in the water and such.
“I know some will have some [fish], but not all.
“But they were OK with that. Even just coming out was such a great thing for them.”
Jerry Leppell cooked Thursday’s barbecue.
Gooding picked up the tab for the fishing licenses.
“Someone, I don’t even know who it was, paid for them to have pizza [Wednesday],” he said.
“They paid for them to have as much pizza as they could possibly eat, but I don’t even know who that was.
“But that is just Forks for you.”
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
