The Military Order of the Purple Heart, Austin chapter, is holding a Salute to Veterans picnic in Driftwood, TX this coming Saturday.

A part of the day's events will be a portrait presentation by Phil Taylor of the American Fallen Soldier's Project to the parents of Sgt 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman. Sgt Chapman, of San Antonio, was a Green Beret and the first American killed in the war in Afghanistan. He was KIA on 04 Jan 2002 and left behind a wife and two young children.

The event organizers have invited the PGR to participate. You may recall that we participated in two other such portrait presentations at the State Capitol. In this case, however, there will be Elgin sausage, catfish, side dishes, and dessert served! Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, 23 May 2009

Location: Driftwood, TX, 10:00 am

Staging: The old Albertson’s parking lot just southwest of the “Y” in Oak Hill.

Staging time: Briefing at 0900, KSU at 0915 for the approx. 12 mi ride to the picnic location.

Directions: From Austin take 290 W just past the 290/71 "Y" in Oak Hill. Turn right into the parking lot. There's a Jim's Restaurant there as well.

Notes: Lunch is provided by our gracious hosts as noted above.

Wx: High 92 F, Lo 66 F, Partly Cloudy.

Ride Captain: Steve von Roeder, svroeder@sbcglobal.net, 512-466-5769