Snellville resident Corporal Jonathan Ayers was killed July 13 in an intense attack on a remote U.S. base in Afghanistan, where he served with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in the Kunar province. The attack claimed nine American lives.

After the funeral, motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard Riders, Stone Mountain Harley Owners Group, Christian Motorcyclists Association and America Legion escorted the procession from the church to the cemetery. A photographer for the Patriot Guard reported that this was the largest motorcycle escort in the over three dozen that he had witnessed.

On Saturday, an equally large group escorted the Ayers family and their son’s body from the county airport in Lawrenceville to the funeral home in Snellville and then to the church. Patriot Guard representative Bart Daugherty sent the following letter to Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway to describe what he observed.

Dear Sheriff Conway,

This morning my fiancee and I had the honor and privilege of being part of the escort of the body of Corporal Jonathan Ayers. We, along with 165 other motorcycles in the Patriot Guard Riders, staged at the small airport in Lawrenceville, GA, and formed a flag honor line on the tarmac as his flag draped coffin was removed from the plane and presented to his grieving family and friends. It was loaded onto the hearse by a 6 member military honor guard while all the PGR members stood at attention, most holding large (3′ X 5′) American flags in a ring around the plane and the family.

From there each and every biker followed the hearse and the family for approximately 15 miles in a 2 mile long procession from the airport to the funeral home. An honor to participate? Yes – and the very, very least we could do to honor this young man who gave his life for America – for you and me. But that is only a small portion of the story.

Along the route from the airport to the funeral home, the Lawrenceville Police and the Gwinnett County Sheriffs Department blocked off every intersection so that we could all – all 2 miles of us – proceed uninterrupted in our honor escort. But there is more. So much more.

En route, there were many, many groups of people – some small, some fairly large. Old, young, grandparents with their grandkids, parents with their children, elderly people standing – some in small groups, others alone. Virtually each and every one of them held an American flag and stood at attention with their hands over their hearts as the long procession passed. But there’s more yet.

On the opposite side of the roads we took – most of which were 4 lane divided highways, people – Americans – pulled off to the side of the road and stood outside their vehicles, hands over their hearts, as the funeral procession for Corporal Ayers passed. Some even stopped their cars or trucks in the middle of the street and stood next to their car at attention, hand over their heart. No one, and I mean NO one, honked their horn to get the person in front of them going or out of frustration for being “held up”. Not one single beep.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Gwinnett County Sheriffs Department Department, and especially the officers who provided escort to the grief stricken family and the Patriot Guard Riders for their time and service to the community. I am sure at least some of these officers were off duty at the time but chose, of their own volition, to donate their time and professional expertise to this mission. Please convey my personal, sincere, and heartfelt thanks to them for not only a job well done, but for their patriotism as well.

How desperately I wish Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, John Murtha, Teddy Kennedy, and a host of other Washington ”surrender now” elites could have seen all of this today. I doubt it would have changed their minds, but it would certainly let them know how far out of touch they are with the American people and with reality.

God bless America, and may God bless you and your officers for their unselfish service. Thank you.

Bart Daugherty
a.k.a. Tailgunner
Proud Member, Patriot Guard Riders
Proud American