Here’s a short and hopefully inspiring story for you in celebration of 237 years of America’s Independence.

I received an email in February of this year from a friend with a subject line that read “Want to walk across America carrying the American flag? Call or email Jerry Oliver.”

In the body of the email was this awesome visual –

“Can you imagine driving along the highway and look over to see an old, silver-haired, combat veteran walking against the wind and carrying the American flag as it flaps in the wind?  I can because I have seen it once and it ran goose bumps up and down my patriot spine.”

After reading that paragraph, I promptly called this fellow named Jerry Oliver.

Hello, is this Jerry Oliver?

In a soft voice, yes it is.

Hi, my name is Helen Tansey and I received this email from a friend asking if I knew of anybody who might be interested in walking across the country with you while also carrying the American flag. Do you have a minute to talk?

He did and nearly two hours later I knew I’d met a most sincere, determined, loyal American.

I asked him – Why? Why a walk across the country? In my book that’s a helluva commitment…one few would take on so he had some convincing to do, which he did.

In a nutshell he convinced me by saying, and I’m paraphrasing here, first and foremost he took an oath to “uphold and defend” the US Constitution on three different occasions—first, as an enlisted man during the Vietnam War and again, as a government bureaucrat working first for the CIA and then the State Department.  He went onto express his serious concerns about the direction the country was heading and shared genuine fear for his children’s future, and most especially, his grandchildrens.

He knew he had to do something, something special, something that would capture and then hold the people’s attention which is why he settled on the idea of a walk. He spent the next several months planning and setting aside some savings to help underwrite the walks expenses including buying a van, three meals a day, gas, van maintenance, a place to sleep, purchasing constitutional booklets to handout along the route and more.

It was also during this first conversation that Jerry had begun in earnest to recruit someone who would drive the van while he did the walking. He discovered that many were interested in participating but few could commit to being away from home for nearly a year that is until his and Mark’s paths crossed.

Mark appeared on Jerry’s radar in late April early May. Mark too is a vet, he enlisted in the Air Force in the early 90’s and was honorably discharged ten years later under the Reduction in Forces program in early 2000. He’s also a grandpa and like Jerry, he takes his oath seriously and shares in Jerry’s concern for the direction America is heading. Mark rounded out the team in late May and on June 1 these two fine American’s started walking across the across the country with flag in hand. Their walk officially began – 

   “…at the piers of San Diego, California and then proceeded walking down Broadway Ave until we reached “F” St. & continued walking until we could go no further.  It was then we had to take US Hwy. 94 bypass to I-8”

Today, Jerry and Mark arrived in Nacona, Texas where they are spending the 4^th of July holiday. Here’s a short clip from a local news station who is covering their walk – 

I sincerely hope Jerry and Mark’s story is inspiring to you. It sure is to me. It’s not every day two vets walk across the country carrying the American flag reminding the People of our founding documents e.g., the United States Constitution.

They will have walked across the country when they hit Brunswick, Georgia and from there they are picking up Route 1 and walking into Washington, D.C.  The T-Room will be following Jerry and Mark over the coming months. If you want to keep up with their day to day successes go to their website – walkdaddywalk dot com. They also welcome comments and feedback so please feel free to send them some encouraging thoughts…they’d love to hear from you.

They are also welcoming donations to help defray their costs. Every little bit helps…you can find their donate info on their home page walkdaddywalk dot com

Finally, feel free to contact me at htansey@t-room.us if you have some time to donate to help with logistics. They could use an extra hand…