China Post 1 members from the Dragon Rider program were out across Texas supporting an honorable cause: an escort from the Dallas/Fort Worth area down to Luckenbach and ending in San Antonio.
Alaskan Airlines, in 2011, decided they needed a more dignified way to hand off fallen soldiers from an aircraft to a awaiting funeral home team, instead of treating them like luggage in plain beat-up luggage carts. They established a Fallen Heroes Program and began building carts for this purpose called the Fallen Soldier Cart Project. To date there have been 14 built and sent to various airports in Alaska, Hawaii, along the western seaboard, D.C., Kansas, DFW and now to San Antonio. These carts, while owned by Alaskan Airlines, are free for use by all the airlines in the airports in which they are placed. Alaskan Airlines has challenged the other airlines to forget the competitive nature during that handoff moment, and use the cart as intended. They do take donations to help build these carts and wish to continue making them for other airports.
This 14th cart started in Alaska and traveled down the western seaboard to Southern California where it joined the "Run For The Wall - Southern Route" team and was then escorted to the DFW area. On May 21, 2023, three China Post 1 Dragon Riders assisted in the continuation of the escort of the Fallen Soldier Cart from Grand Prairie, Texas. Asst. Director Jeff "Taz" Kline and Secretary Marci "Bugsy" Whyte joined members of the Patriot Guard, Thin Blue Line and others to escort the cart down to the central Texas area, where it was handed off to other Patriot Guard Riders and another chapter of Thin Blue Line, as well as Director Bobby "Ronin" Nagley. Though there were storms on this day and riders getting wet from the scattered rain showers, they continued to escort the cart getting delivered safely to San Antonio.
The cart was officially presented to San Antonio International Airport on Monday, May 22, 2023.
Alaskan Airlines Fallen Cart Project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9TvQ1DaAk0:
