Our friend Cheré called last week and asked us to come over to photograph the Blue Star Mothers of NV (Henderson & Boulder City chapter) while they packed up holiday care packages and Christmas stockings for NV servicemen and women. With the help of many businesses who donated items, lots of ladies who sewed up the stockings and an army of determined volunteers, the Moms sent over 1,000 stockings out, just in time to brighten up the holidays.




It was quite an operation with assembly line stuffing and boxing.









The gentlemen in the suit is the Mayor of Henderson, who came out despite an injured hand, to show his support. Of course, the news crew came too...






Volunteers swarm over the pile of stuffed stockings to get them boxed for shipping.



These two gents took a well deserved break after helping to reduce the mammoth pile of stockings to boxed and sealed packages.


We could have just taken pictures, but that's not what we do ... so here's Krystal sealing and taping boxes for the overseas flight.


The moms ran low on socks and a few other supplies. We got the operation back on track with a trip to Costco. You should have seen all the strange looks we got with two cases of socks on the cart. That's 296 pairs of warm feet right there with 1,000 clean pairs of hands, 24 hot meals, 12 packs of beef jerky, lots of candy and many cans of fruit.



There's no doubt that Cheré knows where her son is. As you gather with your friends and family this season, take a few minutes to send good thoughts to our troops for a safe return home.

More pictures

Last week, we attended the annual Toys for Tots Charity Golf Classic at Nellis Air Force Base. As it was the weekend before Aviation Nation, we were treated to quite the airshow. Some of our pics are below.



B-25 Mitchells used to great effect by flyers off the USS Hornet in the Doolittle Raid to bomb Tokyo, Japan and 4 other cities 4 months after the Pearl Harbor attack.



During the practice flying for the Aviation Nation Air Show at Nellis Airforce Base we got buzzed by history. Wish we could have gotten a closer in shot, but it's not wasy to catch planes flying over 200 mph!

From top left, an F-4 Phantom which flew during Vietnam, a P-38 Lightning from World War II which was fast enough to outrun the German Messerschmitts, an F-86 Sabre from the Korean War which fought Russian-made MIGs, and an A-10 Warthog which is flying right now over Afghanistan and Iraq.



A C-17 Globemaster III (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-17_Globemaster_III) shows off her surprising agility over the golf course at Nellis Air Force Base during the Toys for Tots Golf Tournament.



Perfect blue sky shot of two Navy planes with a little Photoshop

Metal of Honor and the work I do with the Las Vegas Pearl Harbor Survivors will be in the December issue of The Answer. We met the editor Toni Terrell while having lunch with the Survivors just before Veteran's Day. She was intrigued by seeing us with this group, as we are obviously not Survivors ourselves. After explaining our drive to help the Survivors' legacy live on, she decided to do a story on our work.

Pearl Harbor Survivors Ed Hall and Clif Dohrmann (with his wife Ginnie) enjoyed their appearance on KNPR's award-winning local affairs program State of Nevada. The conversation ranged over a number of topics, from the importance of Remerbering Pearl Harbor and World War II to my upcoming book about the Survivors to our opinions as veterans on Post Tramautic Stress Disorder and the VA's treatment of veterans from all wars. The episode was broadcast on 11-11-2009 in honor of Veteran's Day. You can listen online here.

I was so honored to escort our local Pearl Harbor Survivors for the 2009 Las Vegas Veteran's Day Parade. Ginnie (the Vice President's wife, who organizes the parades) was very concerned that they wouldn't be able to appear because none of them are strong enough to carry the banners and flags for the mile plus parade route. She asked me to find some volunteers. My marketing director Krystal's daughter and and her family and friends were happy to help out.

I rode Metal of Honor in the front, followed by the big banner carried by Holly and best friend Madison, Dr. Collins and Madison's Grandpa Ken came next, proudly carrying the American flag and the Survivors flag followed by the Survivors in two cars. Ike (89), Jack (94, the oldest Survivor in Las Vegas) and Tiny Gold and Clif (88, Vice President of the Chapter) & Ginnie Dohrmann were able to make it out. President Ed Hall and his wife Doreen had to cancel due to illness. Krystal and Norah (with her two patriotic parade dogs) roamed up and down the group, passing out bumper stickers and bookmarks to the huge crowds. We ran out before we even hit the halfway mark! Krystal decked out the cars with ribbon and tinsel, not to mention painting & decorating the kids.

Despite Clif's advancing age, he marched alongside the car for most of the route. The crowd gave him a lot of applause. Ginnie told us later that we had made it so worry-free for them that if they are still able to drive next year, they will attend now that they know they have our support.

We are still adding to our flickr album, so please check back for more pics.

We had a great time out at the Vegas Valley Book Festival this weekend. Our friend Richard had a nice tent set up for us in the Local Authors Fair area in the historic Frank Lloyd Wright courtyard of the 5th Street School.

The bike got a lot of attention, but it was eclipsed by our special guests — local Survivor Clif Dohrmann and his wife Ginnie.



Las Vegas Pearl Harbor Survivor Clif Dohrmann (Navy Aircrew, Kanehoe Bay) tells a young man about his experiences on the morning of December 7, 1941 at the Pearls Of Honor booth during the local Authors Fair at the 2009 Vegas Valley Book Festival.

Clif spoke to several people about his experiences on December 7th and even took to the podium to educate the audience on the importance of supporting today's military personnel.


Two sisters listen intently to living history as local Pearl Harbor Survivor Clif Dohrmann recounts his experiences on the morning of December 7, 1941 during the Local Author's Fair at the 2009 Vegas Valley Book Festival. Mr. Dohrmann was the guest of author Dana Harbaugh. Mr. Harbaugh's book Pearls of Honor: Their Duty to Remember will profile the current activities of the Survivors to keep the memory of World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor alive for today's generation.

Dana visits with Clif and Ginnie.

Ginnie showing some children a picture of the PBY aircraft that Clif flew aboard throughout World War II. Clif related that of the 36 PBYs stationed at Kanehoe Bay on December 7th, only 3 were intact after the Japanese attacks because they had been out on patrol.

When the Zeros arrived, the aircraft were parked wing to wing, fully fueled with 1,700 tons of high octane gas for Monday morning maneuvers. When the bombs and gun fire hit them, they went up like bombs themselves. There was little the Navy sailors could do. Clif and other sailors pulled machine guns from the burning planes and ran to the ammo lockers as fast as they could in an attempt to meet the threat from the air.

Dana yielded his time on the microphone over to Clif in order for the audience to get a taste of "living history" right from the mouth of a Survivor.

We hope to see our Las Vegas residents come out for tomorrow's Veteran's Day Parade. As I mentioned earlier, this will be the chapter's last parade. Join us at 4th Street and Gass Ave. at 10am to show your support for all of our troops and veterans.

Image via Wikipedia

We just got word that Metal of Honor will be prominently featured in an upcoming issue of HOT BIKE Magazine. They will be doing a story on the creation of this exquisite work of art created by our team of Las Vegas-based artisans. More details as they come in.

Nearing 90 years old, Las Vegas Survivor Clifton Dohrmann climbed right up on Metal of Honor for a picture during our visit to Nellis AFB in July of 2009. He was just delighted to see the bike and his picture on the front of the trailer. Once up on the bike, he gave Metal a good look over. He seemed very touched by the tribute to him and those he served with at Pearl Harbor.

While you're enjoying the Target Children's Book Festival during the Vegas Valley Book Festival, stop by to see Metal of Honor in the Plaza. You'll have the rare chance to meet living history in the person of our good friend Clif Dohrmann, Pearl Harbor Survivor. He'll be on hand to meet the kids and tell them a bit about life in the Service during World War II and elaborate on some of the images on our bike.Clif was in the Navy stationed at NAS Kanehoe Bay as part of a PBY Catalina aircraft crew on the day of the attack. He served a full 8 years and was in most of the major battles of the War. This is a great chance to introduce your kids to the War that shaped the world as we know it and get them excited about history.

Metal of Honor should be out of the shop tomorrow. She is having her exhaust pipes powder coated over at Chrome Fusion. Just in time, too, we have a busy week planned to kick off November.

Our first appearance with Metal of Honor is Saturday, November 7th from 10AM to 3PM during the 2009 Vegas Valley Book Festival. We'll be in the plaza at the 5th Street School (with the Target Children's Festival.)

The Vegas Valley Book Festival, the largest literature event in Las Vegas, will be held November 4 – 8, 2009, with most events taking place at the historic Fifth Street School downtown. Now in its eighth year, this annual community festival was founded on the simple premise of bringing together those who write books and those who love to read them. The five-day festival is presented by the City of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Nevada Humanities and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

If all goes well, we'll have one or two of the local Pearl Harbor Survivors on hand to answer questions and meet the public. (It depends on their health, as they are all over 85.) We'll also have plenty of free Metal of Honor bookmarks and posters. This is a wonderful activity for families and anyone who loves a good story!

Image from : blog.lasvegasweloveit.com/

Each year the participants enjoy a day of fun and socializing on the links – and - have the unique opportunity to watch the “Air Cover” as world class Aviators go through their the final “dress rehearsals” directly overhead on the last day before Aviation Nation begins. Thomas McGrath, Chairman of the Tournament Planning Committee and a founding member of the tournament said “If you plan to concentrate on your golf game, this is not the tournament for you. However, if you want to have a memorable day, have a chance at winning some tremendous prizes and, at the same time, provide children with Christmas toys...this is your tournament”.

Over the past 7 years, more than $90,000.00 has been raised by the tournaments to help provide Marines much needed support for our community’s children, who otherwise, might have no Christmas at all. Since 1947 Marines have been distributing shiny new toys to needy children and last year alone, the tournament contributed $25,000 in proceeds to benefit the Southern Nevada Toys for Tots program.

McGrath added, “in spite of the current economic environment, we are very encouraged by the early and strong interest from companies, individual players and other organizations in providing support for and participation in this most important fund-raiser”.

When you have a bike like ours, you have to be very careful what products you use to clean and maintain the finish. Anything has any harsh abrasives could scratch Metal's chrome or paint. Worse, any residue left by the cleaner would leave gunk in the engravings, dulling their exquisite details. When Metal of Honor first came out of Chrome Fusion's shop, Jason recommended Wizard's Mist n' Shine as the only cleaner we needed.

So that's what we've been using, liberally applied to a multi-fiber polishing cloth. You just wipe the bike down with gentle strokes and the bike just GLOWS. The cleaner contains no wax, solvents or silicone. It doesn't have any petroleum in it to possibly damage the leather seat or discolor other parts of the bike if you did happen to over spray.

We've been really happy with it so far and gladly recommend it for any show bike. You can try it in a small size with this handy saddle pack containing a cloth, Mist n' Shine and two other detailing products.

Wizard's is also made in the USA, another plus in our book! You'll be hearing a bit more about Wizard's from us in the future, as we've struck up a relationship with them to do some promotional marketing with Metal of Honor.

Our friends in the band CTS made it possible for us to have Metal of Honor on display this weekend at the Fremont Street Experience. Catherine and her staff at Vegas Experience were so friendly and helpful, not to mention the nice folks at the Golden Nugget.

We were overwhelmed by the response from the public. The minute Dana pulled the bike in, the crowds started. We had anywhere from 2 to 20 people around all the time. We must have talked to two thousand people over the two days. Since this was Bike Fest weekend, of course a lot of fellow motorcycle riders - many of them veterans - saw the bike. Fremont Street is also very popular with tourists, so we also saw a lot of kids and families. I enjoyed watching people do that double take as they were walking and get drawn into looking at all the engravings. The many emotions passing over the faces of the vets and the public were truly awe inspiring.

It was a great venue for us and I hope they invite us back.

Metal of Honor looked lovely under the world's largest sign.
Who is John Finn and why did he sign our gas tank?

Quite a few people, including these two lovely ladies, asked Dana to sign posters or pose for photos. It was the first time he got to feel a little bit like a rock star.

My mom (a.k.a. the Deontos Publishing Booth Mama) got into the spirit of Fremont Street's Summer of '69 promotion and wore one of my brother's Jerry Bear tye dyes.

The cameras came out to snap pictures of Metal of Honor - especially from the many veterans who were at Fremont Street over the weekend.

We didn't have stanchions until a bit later in the day on Friday,
but everyone was very respectful of the bike.

Check out this awesome mini bike by DPX Systems. We met Anthony out here at The 2009 SuperRun. Yes, the mini bike is powered entirely by a 18-volt DeWalt Cordless drill - the very same one you can buy at any home improvement store. Krystal and I both took it for a spin and it's a blast to ride!

We really admire the innovative thinking that went into this and Anthony's other uses for the drill driven unit. Check out his drive systems that use a drill to turn a manual wheelchair into a powered model and allow a full size Harley Davidson or other heavy cargo to to be lifted into the bed of a truck, by one person. This is the kind of thinking that will move America forward in the 21st century and it's local! Anthony is based right here in Vegas.