image-mask

Ride 2 Remember a Usna First

RIDE-2-REMEMBER    PURPOSE

INTRODUCTION

On June 30, 1969, 1,389 young men were spliced into U.S. Naval Academy history by raising their right hand to become Midshipmen, United States Navy. Most graduated, some did not — all became a link in the chain of Naval Academy history and that of the Class of 1973.

Since that day we have lost more than 139 classmates. The Ride-2-Remember — a 3,200-mile cross-country bicycle ride, was organized to symbolically gather our fallen classmates to Annapolis for our fiftieth reunion.

Each day of our ride was dedicated to one or more of our deceased classmates. Each day a tribute tag was worn for those we honored. Each day there was a ceremony that concluded with the Navy Hymn and placement of the individual tribute tag(s) worn that day onto the Ride-2-Remember Tribute Chain.

That was our purpose … that was our mission. This is our story.

Doug Leland, Ride-2-Remember Team Leader

SUMMARY

Members of the Naval Academy classes of 1973 and 1983 rode 3,500 miles across the country in support of veterans and fellow classmates.  Doug Leland was the leader of the Class of 1973’s effort.

The Ride-2-Remember Blog chronicling the challenges, joys and meaningful moments of the journey was initiated by Bill Montgomery, with each day’s entry provided by one of the team’s five riders:   https://usna1973ride2rememberblog.com

The final leg of the trip went from Arlington National Cemetery to Annapolis, MD, and coincided with the Class of 1973’s 50th Reunion.

  • Here are Doug Leland’s remarks at Arlington National Cemetery:  ANC Remarks

 

 

 

MEMORIAL SERVICE

The Memorial Service at our 50th Reunion included a Ride to Remember segment.  Here is the video from that Service.  That segment begins at about 1:23:20 in the recording:  Class Memorial Recording 10_6_23

 

ROUTE

The route which the Ride to Remember followed is detailed in the following file:    R-2-R Route — Final Stats

Each leg of the journey was dedicated to a particular classmate or classmates, as indicated in the following files:

R-2-R Tribute Calendar by Ride Date – Aug 2023

R-2-R Tribute Roster by Company – Aug 2023

 

TEAM MEMBERS

Ride-2-Remember Team

Riders

Ron Bowman — 24th Company   R-2-R Introduction – Rider – Ron Bowman

Dave Haefner — 34th Company  R-2-R Introduction – Rider – Dave Haefner

Doug Leland — 15th Company  R-2-R Introduction – Rider – Doug Leland

Duncan Meldrun — 24th Company R-2-R Introduction – Rider – Duncan Meldrun

Bill Montgomery — 1st Company  R-2-R Introduction – Rider – Bill Montgomery

Tom (Tes) Tesoriero — 24th Company  R-2-R Introduction – Rider – Tom Tesoriero

Support

Mark Landry  R-2-R Introduction – Support – Mark Landry

Sally Leland   R-2-R Introduction – Support – Sally Leland