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Mike Marston and John McBay – were there . In a matter of hours they wrote a song with lyrics based on Marston ’ s life . His devastating emotional journey had begun with the death of his little girl , followed by manifestation of his service-connected PTSD and his long battle with cancer . The song was later performed at Saturday ’ s concert . SATURDAY
It was the day for the fishing trip . A number of charter boats had to drop out , but the community stepped up big time with beautiful vessels . The excitement and anticipation on the faces of our Veterans heading out for a day on the water is really indescribable . But even more amazing to me was how that fishing experience proved to be the perfect “ tool ” to bring them together .
Yes , they had fun . Yes , they caught plenty of fish as the pictures here show .
But what went beyond that ( and I can ’ t even type this without being moved to tears ) were the long stretches of talking together , and the way relationships were being born right then and there between people who had known some pretty tough times . It seemed to me as though lives were changed that Saturday on those deep waters . Veterans who had believed they were alone in their journey saw first-hand that they had a tribe of other Veterans who walked with them – and they had some very dedicated “ everyday ” Americans volunteering on their behalf .
As for me , I had the opportunity to take photos of the Veterans with their catches and to hear their fish stories . My favorite “ tale ” was about Dave Riley , a quadriplegic , catching the biggest fish of the day . Impressive , even though it did have to be released since it was out of season . Somehow that didn ’ t matter , really .
Back on land , more stories were told , more friendships were formed . They got pictures ; they captured memories . And my life was changed just by being on the outside watching it all unfold .
Jimmy Graham fishes sober . Nice trigger-fish , Jimmy – Keep up the good work !
Fish for dinner !.
AHERO MAGAZINE SUMMER 2021 65