At the very front of the formation rode Derrick “Stone” Lawson, the towering president of a veteran motorcycle club known as the Iron Patriots. Stone looked exactly like the kind of man people imagine when they hear the word biker — thick beard, heavy tattoos, leather vest worn by years of wind and road dust. But anyone who knew him understood the intimidating exterior hid the heart of someone who had spent most of his life helping people others forgot about. Behind him stretched nearly three hundred bikers, their engines synchronized like a disciplined convoy.
But the real reason they had come wasn’t intimidation or spectacle.
Behind the motorcycles rolled three large charter buses filled with children.
One hundred children stepped off those buses wearing identical red shirts printed with the words:
“My Parent Was a Hero.”
These were children who had lost mothers or fathers while serving in the United States military. Some had lost them only months earlier. Some had grown up barely remembering their parent’s voice. For nearly two years the Iron Patriots had organized charity rides, repaired old motorcycles to sell, and worked countless volunteer events just to raise enough money to give these kids something they had rarely experienced since their loss: one perfect day of joy.
Standing beside Stone’s motorcycle was the most unusual member of the convoy.
