Remembering PFC Amy Duerksen

On March 17, 2006 I joined over 100 fellow Patriot Guard Riders to ride in honor of PFC Amy Duerksen, 19, of Temple, TX.

After Amy’s funeral, I received the following email from Amy’s father, Doug Duerksen (who is an Army Chaplain at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland):

After a long journey and an even longer two weeks, my wife and I have finally arrived back at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. I checked my email knowing that there would be too many messages to respond to just yet. However, there was one message that had to be sent immediately and this is it.

Thank you. Thank you for honoring our Soldier Girl – PFC Amy Duerksen with roaring bikes and saluting hands. Thank you for honoring our family with kind words and outstretched arms. Thank you for honoring God with bowed heads and prayers in His name. Thank you for honoring our country with pure hearts, good deeds, and American flags. Thank you for giving up your personal time and resources to ride miles upon miles and hours upon hours to honor, serve, and pay tribute to people that you have never met.

Thank you to those whose names I know like David David, Eric Story, and Perry Jeffries. And thank you to the myriad of others who I would be proud to know by name. Thank you to each and every one of the PGR who came, or wanted to come, to Amy’s going-home celebration. Your presence was a comfort and shield for those of us who were in attendance. May our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, richly bless and protect you in all that you do. In grateful appreciation – Thank you.

In Him,

Doug and Michelle Duerksen

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary since the Duerksen family buried their “soldier girl” at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen, TX.

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As fortune would have it, I am going to be in Copperas Cove (only a few miles from Killeen) tomorrow morning to watch Wild Hogs with the soldiers and families of Ft. Hood, who have invited the Central Texas Patriot Guard Riders as their guests of honor.

Once the movie is over, I’ll be able to ride over to the Veterans Cemetery to visit Amy on this solemn anniversary. While, I’m there, I can also visit PFC Brian Kubrik, who is buried just two rows behind and several columns away from PFC Duerksen.

To the Duerksen family, I just wanted to let you know that a year after your Soldier Girl’s funeral, she has not been forgotten by a grateful nation. And in case you were unable to make it down from Maryland, I’ll leave some flowers on her grave in her memory and in your honor.

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UPDATE — It was a beautiful day to visit the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery yesterday. Another section of markers and grave sites has opened since I last visited. It’s hard to imagine that the expansive masses of green space will someday eventually be filled with evenly lined rows upon rows of white marble markers.

Amy was one of the first Soldiers or veterans to ever be buried at this new cemetery, so her grave marker is on the first row of Section 1 (front and center when you first enter the cemetery). The rows behind her have started to fill, as you can see in the following picture (click on the image for a larger image). There are now four full rows of markers, and the fifth is almost completely full.

Amy is in very good company on these hallowed grounds — the 7 graves that surround her’s are from men who have collectively earned 14 campaign ribbons (all of them fought in either Vietnam, Korea, or WWII. Several of the men fought in all three.

The passage inscribed on Amy’s marker is Joshua 1:9.

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”