The honor ‘Guard’

By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer

Who says the Pony Express is long gone?
The Patriot Guard Riders, a national organization composed of military veterans and motorcycle enthusiasts driven by a simple motto — "We stand for those that stood for us" — recently mounted their steel ponies on the first leg of what would be a relay through 11 states to present the widow of Army Cpl. Adam Chitjian with a plaque to honor her husband’s service and sacrifice in Iraq.
The inscription explained their mission: To: Shirley Chitjian, wife of American hero Cpl. Adam Chitjian. From: a grateful nation and the Patriot Guard Riders, via steel pony express, Philadelphia, Pa., to Copperas Cove, Texas.
The group gathered on a frigid Saturday morning two weeks ago to lower the flag to half-mast and salute it in Chitjian’s honor, just as they had done 16 days earlier at the L.A. DiGiacomo Funeral Home in Somerton, where they stood as an honor guard during the Nov. 1 service for the Somerton native. The Patriot Guard members also escorted Chitjian’s body to the mortuary for cremation.
Chitjian, 39, a Washington High School grad and commercial painter who enlisted in the Army after the 9/11 terror attacks, died on Oct. 25, shot during an attack by insurgents in Balad, Iraq, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.
"We honor and respect very, very deeply their sacrifice," Patriot Guard ride captain Wayne Lutz said on the day of Chitjian’s funeral in Somerton. "My biggest thing is, as soon as we leave here, e-mails and images are going to those over in harm’s way to let them know that we have their backs."
Shirley Chitjian had returned to her home in Copperas Cove, Texas, before Lutz, who’s affiliated with the organization’s Pennsylvania, Region 6 division, received Chitjian’s plaque from the national headquarters, so it was decided to deliver it to her in Texas in true Patriot Guard fashion — via a "steel pony express."
One Patriot Guard member, his helmet adorned with a red skull, offered a prayer for a safe trip before the riders mounted their motorcycles and headed for Delaware to give the plaque to the next chapter.
"This is exciting. They’re on pins and needles waiting for it," Lutz said of other chapters of the Patriot Guard Riders waiting to participate in the relay.
The roughly 30 riders on motorcycles adorned with American and POW-MIA flags revved their engines as Lutz led them down Southampton Road to Route 1 and on to Delaware.
"It’s deep into Texas," Lutz said by phone on Nov. 20, a Tuesday morning. "It’s pretty amazing how fast it got there. Nobody rode through the night, from what I’ve read. Some rode six-hundred miles in one day."
The Texas members are formally presenting the plaque to Shirley Chitjian on Saturday.
Why are members of the Patriot Guard Riders so impassioned?
"For me personally . . . I can’t speak for anyone else . . . but a bulk of us are Vietnam-era and Cold War veterans. Frankly, not to whine, but we were treated pretty poorly. A lot of us have vowed it’s not going to happen to this generation of veterans," Lutz explained. "We’re going to support these people. We truly and honestly love our troops. If anyone understands what they sacrifice, we do."
The Glenside resident also believes that the Patriot Guard Riders is representative of the nation at large.
"That’s why it spread and grew so quickly," he said of the organization.
It was formed during the summer of 2005, in response to demonstrations by Westboro Baptist Church members who were staging protests at the funerals of American soldiers. The Kansas-based fundamentalist group believes that the war in Iraq is God’s punishment for homosexuality, a belief that led them to tote inflammatory picket signs and engage in loud protests while disrupting funeral services around the country.
"It started out as American Legion riders saying ‘This is not right. This is not going to stand,’" Lutz explained.
It evolved into the Patriot Guard Riders, with the formation of chapters as the message spread, and members soon stood with their flags at military funeral ceremonies, forming a protective barrier between the soldier’s family and the protesters.
The Patriot Guard members take part only at the invitation of the soldier’s family.
Today, such funeral disruptions are relatively rare. Members of the Patriot Guard Riders now serve as more of a silent honor guard and an escort as the soldier’s body is transported to the burial service.
Lutz learned about the organization in December 2005.
"There are so many good causes, so many good organizations out there, but when I went to the Web site, something about it immediately struck me," he recalled. "It’s not a motorcycle club, it’s not a veterans group. It’s an amalgamation of people, and when they get together, they are the Patriot Guard for that time."
Today the national organization has more than 110,000 members. Pennsylvania’s Region 6 counts 500 participants from Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia counties.
"It’s something that resonates," Lutz said.
The group is registered as a non-profit 501(c3) organization, and thus is diligent to avoid anything to do with politics, according to Lutz.
On the morning of Friday, Dec. 14, another escort is scheduled to pass along Roosevelt Boulevard. The riders will be participating in Wreaths Across America, a project originating in Maine for the delivery of 5,000 donated Christmas wreaths to Arlington, Va. The wreaths will be placed at the graves of soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery.
With anywhere from 50 to 300 vehicles joining the procession, depending on the weather, the escort will head out from Harrington, Maine, on Sunday, Dec. 9, and travel along U.S. Route 1 for most of the journey.
The escort will arrive in the D.C. area on Friday evening, Dec. 14, according to the Web site www.wreaths-across-america.org, with the wreath-laying ceremony taking place the next day at noon. ••
For more information about the Patriot Guard Riders, check out www.patriotguard.org