The above video tells the story of the wall

The above video was on Fox and Friends morning show

U.S. vet memorizes names of fallen American soldiers (1)

ABC World News

Audio above is the story of 1 LT Todd Weaver. Todd wrote 2 letters to his daughter and wife prior to his death in Afghanistan. These letters were later found and I read them on this audio. Please listen.

Audio above is the story of SSG Brian Burgess. It is a powerful story of a true hero. Please listen

PFC Austin Staggs was from Weatherford Texas and had a little newborn boy. He was killed in a surprise attack when one of our allies (Afghanistan National Police) turned traitor and gunned him down in cold blood. His story is above. Please listen.

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Fort Worth
The Alamo
MLB game
Christian Concert
Willie Nelson’s 4th of July picnic
Fundraising banquet to honor the fallen
TCU football game

I learned so much during 2013 writing the wall. One of the most surprising things for me was the reaction the wall would get. My friend and coach, former US Navy SEAL TC Cummings predicted the families would stand at the wall for hours in anticipation of seeing their loved one’s name being written on the wall. I brushed this off as not plausible but TC was right and it was an honor for me that was repeated many times.

I also learned from my errors. During the construction of the wall the builders suggested that I have the wall pre numbered so I don’t have to write the numbers each time. I scoffed at this and said I needed to write the numbers each time. What a mistake that was. I didn’t take into account that it might take 2 seconds to write each number especially when you get to the 4 digit numbers. Those 2 seconds times 2,300 = 4,600 seconds or 77 minutes or 1 HOUR 17 MINUTES! In reality I think it takes me a little longer, maybe 1.5 to 2 hours.

I am taking many lessons into 2014 as I write the wall. On March 17, the day before the wall in Fort Hood I picked up my dad and we drove 2.5 hour drive. He was going as my helper this time. He served in the Army in the late 60s early 70s and was stationed in Korea. He was a military police officer. He had been in ROTC in high school and the military was a natural transition for him. He served around 3 years I think. Honestly I never asked but I do know as a kid his military uniform was my favorite clothes to wear. I would put his gear on and roll around in the backyard hunting for Viet Cong. It was my Halloween uniform, my play uniform, my lay around the house uniform and today at nearly age 40 I still have those uniforms in my possession. Although, I no longer wear them.

After the military my dad went on to serve 40 years as a police officer in Texas and those uniforms I also wore. I sported the police uniform a few times for Halloween in my 20s and 30s and turns out it was a terrible uniform. The last thing folks want to see when they are drinking is an authentic police uniform walking around the party.

The drive to Fort Hood my dad and I talked about the military, the wall, the family and life in general. It was a good time to catch up and spend time talking. I was grateful for the help and I know he was happy to go. He has much respect for anyone who serves in the military as I do. He knows what it takes. He has been there and done that and knows serving in the military in this country is a choice. At any given time 1% of the population is serving. That’s it. 1%. To borrow a slogan from the Marines…the few…the proud and we all are proud of our service. It’s a life long bond.

The trip down to Fort Hood my GPS suggested one way and my dad’s GPS suggested…well…the right way. We went through all the back road Texas towns somehow thanks to my GPS and by the time I realized it I was too committed to the route to turn around. We arrived at Fort Hood via the back gate because of this. When we arrived we had maybe 3 miles of gas left in the tank and the worse news was that it was the wrong gate for visitors. We were instructed to turn around and find the front entrance. I knew we wouldn’t make it and that is when my dad and I pulled out all the stops with the Sgt at the gate telling them about the wall and what we were doing. They called our hosts on base and soon we were on our way.

We set the wall up the night before and I wrote out the numbers the night before. It saves tremendous time. The next morning I met my dad at 0645 in the lobby of the hotel and we set out for Fort Hood a few miles away. I was rested and ready to go.

It was a unique feeling writing the wall at Fort Hood knowing that many would know the names on the wall. There was less traffic or overall people at the wall because it was a military base and everyone had jobs to do. Plus, I don’t think the base publicized it very well. But I was grateful to be there. Like any other Memory Wall I have done it started with just my helper and this time that was my dad, at 8am writing the first line. The first line of the wall I will write:

WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq

In a way it is my way of honor the hero’s from other conflicts but it was not intended to be that way. When I started memorizing the wall in 2012 the first step was to print out the name. I did this with an excel spreadsheet and every hero was assigned a number. What I didn’t realize is that the first row (#1) didn’t contain a name of a fallen hero. Instead that row had the column headers :

RANK, FIRST NAME, LAST NAME

This meant the first person on my wall, MSgt Evander Andrews was actually assigned to #2. By the time I realized this I was over 100 names into the memory process and I certainly wasn’t going to start over. So I just accepted the fact that there would be no one assigned to #1. The first time I wrote out the wall (Feb 28, 2013) I simply skipped #1 and wrote #2 and left the #1 spot blank. All throughout the day people would walk by and discussing the hidden meaning behind that. Was it for a top secret spy that I couldn’t mention his name? Was it left for a special hero I would write last? What was the meaning?

That is when I decided to put an end to that speculation and turned this into a positive. I now use that space to honor the fallen in previous conflicts.

At Fort Hood we had many special moments. An Army veteran who lost 10 friends showed up and left in tears. The tv crew that was there to do a story really capitalized on him being there and handed him the book asking him to look up his friends and to quiz me on what number they were on the wall. It was awkward for me and I know the tv crew meant no harm but these were his friends he watched die in battle and the tv crew was turning it into a game. The tv guys are incredibly good guys and they certainly meant no harm but they just didn’t understand. The veteran eventually broke down in tears and left the wall.

My cousin made this error once as well. I was talking with a guy at the MLB baseball game who had a friend on the wall and was near tears. My cousin asked him if he would like his picture with me. They guy just walked away. I know my cousin meant no harm but sometimes folks start seeing the wall as a memory demonstration with me as the star and not a tribute to hero’s with the names on the wall as the focus. I understand it but I am uncomfortable with it and I am very aware that the veterans who show up don’t see it as a memory demonstration. They see their friends.

That day Sgt Perkins stood at the wall for hours with his family as he waited for me to write his friends names. A woman showed up who served with Spc Shawn Muhr and searched out his name. Another was an Army wife whose husband has made it back. He role when her husband was deployed was to keep in contact with all the wives. She also searched out one of her husband’s friends.

That day at Fort Hood I really sped through the names and finished in record time. 8 hours. Partly because the crowds were lighter and fewer interruptions, partly because I wrote out the numbers the night prior and partly because I had spent the previous 10 days immersed in reviewing the names.

That night my dad and I with the help of the TV crew loaded up the wall and drove back to Fort Worth. This time we listened to my dad’s GPS and soon I would be in my own bed relaxing after another satisfying day.

Yet…

• I had never fully written out the wall.
• I didn’t even have the wall fully memorized
• I didn’t have a WALL
• I had NO IDEA how to get a wall made

I had 2 things:

1. A belief it could be done and I had been training to do it for 9 months
2. The City of Ft Worth had placed their faith in me that I could do it and agreed to give me space Feb 28, 2013

Other than that I had nothing. I had gone to the city offices in Ft Worth and handed them a book and said, ‘Pick a number between 1 and 1000’. They said a number and I said the name of the fallen hero in my book under that number. That coupled with some of my tv appearances was all they needed to believe I could do it.

Fast forward one year. On this date January 22nd, 2014 I have 5 wall events already scheduled!

• NASCAR race Kansas Speedway May 9-10
• NASCAR race New Hampshire Speedway July 11-13
• NASCAR race Atlanta Motor Speedway Aug 30-31
• NFL Football game Oakland Raiders Nov 2014
• Armed Forces Bowl Dec 2014

There is no doubt in my mind that we will surpass the total number for 2013 (7). I hope to do this 10-15 times in 2014 and continue to honor the troops in a powerful way.

We are still seeking a national sponsor to help with the costs of these wall events. To drive the wall to New Hampshire and back will be $2,000 in gas alone. If you have contacts with a major corporation, tell them that they would get massive exposure. That company then could also make a video like this http://youtu.be/FJK8BPLQFsQ that would surely go viral and also promote their company in a positive way.I promise to keep honoring the fallen as long as my brain is healthy.

NOT FORGOTTEN!!

When I made the video I had no idea to what to expect. Up until this point everyone that knew about the project (less than 10) would ask me:

• Where will you do it?
• Where will you get the wall?
• Can you do it?
• Are you sure?

I had none of these questions answered. I would reply, ‘I don’t know. All I know is if when I write the names it is just me and the wall in a field somewhere and no one knows about it or sees it that will be enough for me. I would have said to the guys on the wall. You are not forgotten.’ Well….this wasn’t even close to what happened.

One friend even suggested by saying, ‘Ron that is so nice of you to want to do but maybe instead of memorizing the names you can just hold the book in your hand and write down the names while reading the book.’ It was a nice thought, but NO WAY. This was to say, ‘You are not FORGOTTEN!’ I had to memorize it and by Veterans Day I was about 300-400 names away and feeling confident I could handle the task. On the video I announced that I would write the names in January or February. I figured January would be easy. Turns out it wasn’t. I ended up scheduling the first wall writing for Feb 28th. It was the last possible day I could do the wall and still keep my word and do it in January or February and I needed every single one of those extra days.

By Christmas time, I set up a series of white dry erase boards in my office and I would spend HOURS a day up here just writing the names from memory. The first time I did it I had over 10% errors (spelling errors or forgetting names). There is no way I would be happy with 10% errors. I couldn’t write 7,000 words and have 700 misspelled. So I just kept writing over and over and over again. It is how I spent December, January and February. The good news is once I misspelled a word it would stick stronger in my mind and I didn’t miss that one again. I set a target of 4% errors would be acceptable. So I wrote and wrote and wrote.

I worried….would my arm get tired? So I did push ups as well.

3 weeks out I didn’t have a wall!! I had a date set but no wall. I sent out an urgent email on Facebook and ultimately found a company to design the PERFECT wall for the writing. It looks like a permanent structure.

Here is a secret – When February 28th arrived: I had notified the media, gotten permission from the City of Fort Worth, notified my family and friends and invited everyone out to a celebration at my place afterwards. Here is the secret. I had never written it out from start to finish before. Oh sure, in my office I had written for 4-8 hours at a time. But I never did it completely. So on that day,  February 28th 2013 I wrote out the wall for the first time in public and for the first time all the way through.

The emotions of that day are still very real to me and I have goose bumps right now thinking about it. I met moms and dads of the fallen that day that I know will be life long friends I embraced them and shook hands with a Lieutenant who knew Lance Cpl Cody Childers and I humbly watched him just stare at that kids name for what seemed liked an hour.

When the end of the day arrived it was getting dark (I had started at 7:30am) and I still wasn’t done. A man asked my cousin and helper, Donovan, ‘What will he do if it gets dark?’ My cousin replied, ‘I don’t know. We hadn’t planned for that.’ I was unaware this conversation was taking place but according to my cousin an hour later industrial lights (like you see on highway construction sites at night) were set up and ready to be deployed. My cousin didn’t get his name but just said, ‘He seemed to be a man who was used to making things happen.’

Another man in a nice suit and cowboy hat walked by my mom while I was writing the names, pointed to me and said, ‘If I ever need a man to find me some oil that is who I would call.’

I had set a goal of 4% errors, when the wall was checked the next day there was only 27 errors a .003 error rate.

At the end of the day I barely beat the light and when I wrote the last 20 names my eyes were filling with tears and my hand was shaking. I had done it. I had fulfilled my vision. In a very emotional moment, I took a few steps back, got in the center of the wall and rendered a salute to the wall which lasted for about 45 seconds.

The vision was completed. I had pulled it off. More importantly the heroes were honored.

Not forgotten.

This occurred on the 4th of July at Willie Nelson’s picnic. A woman came up to me in tears and asked to find a name. I think she asked for Staff Sgt Jeremy Katzenberger. If it wasn’t her then it was another woman that day that asked me to find Jeremy’s name on the wall.  What I don’t know is I am remembering the correct woman.

She was in tears that day and the name she wanted to find was the name of the warrior who saved her brother’s life on ‘numerous occasions’ as she stated. She was in tears talking about the man who had given his life and now her brother was safe at home. She told me that this warrior would carry her brother’s equipment because in her words, ‘my brother is small.’ She stood in tears touching the man’s name who carried her brother’s gear.

I know for a fact this occurred, what I am having trouble recalling is if it was Staff Sgt Jeremy Katzenberger’s name she was looking at that day. I don’t know if he was the one because my mind was handling so much information that day.

When I realized I was ‘t 100% sure about the details of this story I was disappointed because I want to recall the story of the wall accurately to retell and share here. Then it hit me, it doesn’t matter if the name she was looking at was Jeremy Katzenberger or not. Because the story she told of another man carrying the load is the story of all the men and women on this wall. They all carried the load for all of us so we could be safe at home. They all carried the load to be strong for us. They all paid the ultimate sacrifice while carrying the load for a nation.

Was she pointing at Jeremy’s name that day? I can’t recall.
But is it who Jeremy Katzenberger is? You better believe it is. It’s who they ALL are.
Maybe it’s best I can’t remember the name, because it is all of the names

The first one (Feb 28, 2013) had so much emotion and dynamics in it:

1. I didn’t know where/how I was going to get wall built as late as Feb 10 and the date set for 1st wall was Feb 28. Intense!
2. I’d never done it. I had written out 25-30% at a time in my office practicing but never in front of anyone and never 100% straight through. I didn’t know if I could do it
3. I had invited all my friends and family plus the press. It was a big stage for something I had never done
4. I had sacrificed so much to get there. The previous year, time with family and friends was few and far between because of my dedication to the wall.

NYC on Fox News (April 4, 2013) had it’s own challenges. It was being done for Fox News morning show Fox and Friends and they wanted me to end at 8:45am live on their show. This meant I had to start at 10pm the previous night! I adjusted my sleep schedule the days prior but working through the night was a challenge. Combine that with my laptop being stolen literally 50 feet from me at 6am and you have a challenging time to focus.

San Antonio and Phoenix, well they were tough but nothing compared to 1st time and NYC and nothing compared to yesterday:

June 29th at Southfork Ranch, ‘Celebrate Freedom’ concert. Just days prior my dad had called me to tell me to – wear sunscreen, wear the boonie style hat like I wore in Afghanistan to protect from heat and drink plenty of Gatorade. I knew he was right but I didn’t know how right until I got there.

The Weather statistics from June 29, 2013. At the peak it was 101

Just one hour into it I knew it was going to be tough. I started writing at 8:15am and by 9:20 I was already light headed. It wasn’t even the heat of the day yet and my brain couldn’t focus. I was looking at names that I had written as if I was seeing them for the first time. I was constantly doubting if I was spelling the names correctly and going blank on more than a few. I downed 2 Gatorades by 11am and I knew the worst of the heat was still to come.

The last 3-4 months I have been on a fairly strict diet and almost no junk and low carbs but I was so light headed I felt I needed food in me. I sent my cousin Donovan to get me a Chick-Fil-A sandwhich at a booth down from me (Also special thanks to Julie Gillespie, Jordan and Valoree Murray for coming out to support). It is rare that I will check the book I have the names written in (what I memorized) but in the first thousand names I must have walked over to the book 5-6 times to check a name. You may think checking 5-6 names out of 1000 is not a lot and maybe it isn’t. But I never have to check.

At 2-3pm Donovan was spraying me down with sunscreen and making sure I was hydrated. I must have consumed 4 full size Gatorades and a Powerade bought by a bystander and not to be graphic but I didn’t take a bathroom break for 10 hours. My body was using all the fluids it could handle. The highest temperature of the day was 101 at 2:45 and although I didn’t have a temperature gauge, I certainly knew it.

As the end of the day approached I had met the cousin of SPC Christopher Horton. He was a sniper who was killed in his sleep by an enemy who had snuck onto the base. He took a bullet to the knee, chest and face and was instantly gone. I met a brave Marine who knew 2 names on the wall as he was in the vehicle with them when they hit the IED. The pastor of Sgt Enrique Mondragon came by to tell me about Enrique and his family. 1LT Robert Welch had many stop by as they told me of his wife and 2 kids.

As I heard these stories and my body was physically and mentally drained I knew this day was nothing compared to the last day each of these names experienced. My challenges with the heat were nothing compared to what our troops were experiencing at that exact moment in Afghanistan. As I reminded myself of my relatively ‘easy day’ I simply guzzled fluids and pressed on.

I wrote the last name around 7:30pm. It was almost 12 hours of writing. The heat had staggered me, slowed me down and drained me but there was enough in the gas tank to complete the 5th Afghanistan Memory Wall and still enjoy the concert and fireworks display to come.

Toughest day of writing the wall? Yes. Mother nature can break the knees of any man. We are not as strong as we think we are when we encounter the steady, robust and unyielding forces of our environment but still an ‘easy day’ in the greater perspective.