The Braves Make Warrior Wishes Come True Again!
After making Warrior Wishes come true in Cincinnati, my dad walked a mile & a half to catch an overnight bus to Atlanta to make Warrior Wishes come true again at the Braves game.
In my dad’s own words – ” I don’t even remember the bus ride ” He said he woke up in Atlanta at about 11 AM, just as the bus was pulling into the station.
As my dad does on every stop in Atlanta, he walked down the street a couple miles to Westin Peachtree which is what he calles his “Atlanta office.” There he spent a few hours setting up specifics for Miami this weekend and Tampa Monday and Tuesday.
Today in Atlanta he was hosting 3 Army warriors thanks to the Atlanta Braves. SGT Chris Barrett, SGT Sean Gannon & Special Ops Marshall Brown. Two of the 3 are retired but Sgt Gannon still active duty serving his 8th year.
My dad headed to Turner Field about 3:30 to meet Sean and Chris – Marshall had to work late, and unfortunately missed the opportunity to watch batting practice from on the field.
All 3 of our VIP guests were nominated by different organizations or sources. Chris arrived first with his wife Tasha, so my dad was able to get to know them a little bit before Sean arrived. Sean brought his 10 year old daughter,Destiny, who was all decked out in her Braves gear and her baseball glove – she was ready for the game.
But first – photos in front of stadium, and the Hank Aaron statue of course ,especially considering this is last year Braves are playing here. The Braves had provided us with OnField PreGame BP passes so we headed to the Museum entrance and were then escorted down to the field .
This was the first time any of our guests had ever been in the field, and it is so cool to watch the priceless reactions. – They had smiles from ear to ear walking through the tunnel and then onto turner field . As always, a few of the players stopped by to say hi and thank our warriors for their service.
Tyler Flowers and Jeff Francoeur were extremely cool with our guests, signing autographs and taking photos.
We stayed on the field a little over an hour and the guys also got to meet Jarrod from the Braves front office. Jarrod has been instrumental in helping our heroes for last 3 years. We are thankful for his help!
As the game got ready to start, it gave my dad time to just hang out and learn a little bit more about our guests . And talk about coincidence – we were talking about their kids and found out both Sean and Chris both have kids that were born on exact same day!!! One was born at 1700 and the other at 1741 – of course military time but only 41 minutes apart !!
The game itself was a strange one as the New York Mets stormed out to a 5-0 lead early , and the 8-0 in the 5th and didn’t look like much of a game . However , a 6-run 5th inning by the Braves made it interesting , but that was as close as they would get , losing by that 8-6 score . Unfortunately, Sgt Brown did not get there until after the game started, but was there in time for the fireworks and concert after the game too, so it made it a great night for everyone involved.
We would like to thank Jarrod and the Atlanta Braves for tickets and field passes, as well as their continued support over last 3 years We would also like to thank New Era Cap for providing hats as usual and for their continued support for every single season since we started our mission in 2012.
But of course – and always – biggest THANK YOU goes out to Sgt Sean Gannon, Sgt Chris Barrett and Sgt Marshall Brown for their service to our great country!!!
My dad is hopping on his 3rd straight overnight bus for a 15 hour ride to Miami to host and honor Gold Star families of our fallen heroes at Marlins games on both Saturday and Sunday. Stay Tuned for more details!
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