Gary Eugene Thomas Dosh July 23 & 24, 2008

This is a completed mission report for the mission to honor Gary as requested by the family.

Gary was 58 years old and died suddenly and unexpectedly. Gary served his active duty in Viet Nam and then put an additional 20 in the Army Reserve. Gary was a special person working with Behavioral Health persons and was very involved in the community. He was a game referee in two sports and a coach for two team.

Visitation:

We arrived early and spaced out the flag line on either side of the main entrance and one of our members did door duty. As people started to come in we were somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer number of people coming to pay their respects to Gary and his family. There was a huge parking lot that quickly filled up with cars and then they began parking on both sides of the street both ways from the home.

Many people thanked us for being there and several times I heard the word awesome in describing the flagline. We did hear from some of those paying respects about what a great person Gary was. He was a hero to many and to us.

We stood down after most people left the home and we did a brief debriefing at the closest meeting point with more than 1/2 of the members showing up.

Funeral Service:

We staged on Thursday, July 24 at mid-morning at the same location. We had 13 bikes and 20 members and 3 more joined us later. We had a short briefing and made the short ride to the funeral home. We set up the flagline as we did the day before only with more people. The funeral home provided water and cookies for our members and funeral home employees spent considerable time out visiting with our members. I think they were grateful to have us there.

Again, many people thanked us for being there and for what we do. We had 3 ask us how to join. As people started to come in we were again overwhelmed by the sheer number of people coming to pay their respects to Gary and his family. The huge parking lot quickly filled up with cars and then again they began parking on both sides of the street both ways from the home. We had members helping direct cars in odd areas of the parking lot to squeeze in more cars. We had 2 more members helping the elderly and those with young kids get across the road and thru the traffic as this was a main artery thru that end of town.

One resident told us that he lived on that road all his life and he had never seen car parked along the road like that before.

After the service started we stood down and the members that were not on the escort made the trip to the Canteen to join the others there that were waiting to set up the flagline prior to the funeral procession arriving. We had arranged with the funeral to get a heads up just prior to the people exiting the home. When the hearse was moved in front of the building we moved the escort bikes in front of it. As soon as we got the heads up that people would be exiting we were told to disassemble the flagline as they were in a hurry to get started.

We called the members at the Canteen that we were leaving soon and would begin the 30 minute escort to the Camp Ripley cemetary. The escort had a lead vehicle to set the pace and then the bikes, then the hearse and then the rest of the funeral procession. When the LEO saw the size of the funeral procession she called in help from the Brainerd Police and the Sheriff and we had LE assistance at all intersections until we were on the highway and out of town.

The trip to the cemetary went quickly and uneventfully. The flagline was set up perfectly when we got there. After the family entered the building we reassembled at the other side to form 3 rows behind the honor guard. After the honor guard they played taps and after that the honor guard left and then we reformed the flagline on the other side of the building again to await the family. After most of the family came out we stood down as we had been told that there was no interment.

We debriefed at the Canteen and we were all grateful for a good day and a flawless honor mission.

We were told by the funeral director that there had been 950 people to pay respects to this hero, a new record for this facility. I was very proud of the members at this mission.

Jim Parent