Print 05/01/07 - by Steven Winslow
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| | George at the Iwo Jima Memorial
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| | Spur of the moment signing at the Memorial
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| | Spur of the moment signing at the Memorial
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| | Handing off the scroll
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| | Handing off the scroll
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| | Hanidng off the scroll
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| | Kids love to check out Georges project
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| | George always draws a crowd!
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George Jackson is the Original Scrolls for Troops guy from delmarvas own American Corners. He is well known for setting up his tables and tent at many local biker events, malls, shopping centers, just about anywhere there are people. He creates 2 - 3 scrolls at a time, having people pen thier own well wishes for troops overseas with his colorfull assortment of markers. When the scrolls are filled, he passes them on to the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and even our allies! If you are ever out and about at a delmarva biker event, be sure to look for him and take a minute to sign his scrolls. I am honored to have made George's personal email list and be allowed to share his adventures with our readers. Here is what hes been up to lately:
Good morning, MCPO William R. James, and BMCM William D. Carter: (And, Good morning to all of the wonderful folks that I've sent copies of this message, and photos to. - Some of you are scroll signers, some of you helped by telling people where to find the scrolls so that they could add a message, some of you provided a location for me to set my scrolls up for signing, and some of the recipients of copies of this e-mail are brave members of the United States Coast Guard. - Thank You to all of you. From: George.)
Thank You to MCPO William R. James, and BMCM William D. Carter for traveling to the Centre At Salisbury to receive the 448 feet of Thank You messages for Members of the United States Coast Guard deployed in Iraq. Even though the hand off was to MCPO William R. James, BMCM William D. Carter was the member of the United States Coast Guard who asked me last Fall to do a scroll for members of the Coast Guard overseas in Iraq. BMCM William D. Carter promised me that he would work to get this Thank You scroll delivered when I completed it. Mrs. Lauren A. Martz was there at The Centre At Salisbury when he asked me to do the scroll. By a chance meeting, I spoke to Mrs. Lauren Martz on Friday, the day before the hand off, she told me she had signed my scrolls last fall and had witnessed BMCM William D. Carter asking me to do the scroll. So within an hour of the hand off she and her family came to the The Centre at Salisbury and added their messages to the scroll. Mr. David Martz also took the photos with our camera of BMCM William D. Carter watching as I handed off the scroll to MCPO William R. James. I'm also attaching a photo of the Martz family standing between BMCM William D. Carter, and MCPO William R. James.
I would also like to say that I never realized how many people did not know that our brave members of the United States Coast Guard are also serving overseas. I've known this for many years because I had a neighbor who spent 20 years in the Coast Guard. I remember one time when he spent a year in Greece. The Thank You Scroll has been an education for many that brave members of the United States Coast Guard are also serving in Iraq.
Thank You United States Coast Guard for all that you do. Your next scroll has already begun. I started it while at the Centre At Salisbury on Saturday before I did the hand off. When I asked MCPO William R. James to sign the scroll he asked me where do I want to send this one. I asked him to tell me where he would like to see it go. His answer was ANTARCTICA. The Thank You scroll for United States Coast Guard Members in ANTARCTICA is filling fast. MCPO William R. James wrote " in ANTARCTICA" on the bottom of the scroll signing table sign for me. He has promised to get it there when I complete it. WOW, after he left, people who saw ANTARCTICA on the sign started to line up to write messages. One person even voiced out loud as she wrote "Thank you and keep warm." Also attached is a photo of the new scroll for members of the USCG in ANTARCTICA with messages on it Saturday afternoon.
Good morning, Lisa, Kelly, Bob, Dennis, and all the of folks at WBOC, Also, Good morning Brian, Mike and April, and Also, Good morning to, Steven Winslow:
(Thank You all, for telling so many people where this set of scrolls were located for signing as I araveled with them since March 16th and 17th at "The Centre At Salisbury". Since that time they have traveled to many locations including Lawyers Mall in front of the Maryland State House. All 4 scrolls are complete. I will be handing the 448 feet long USCG scroll off to the USCG at "The Centre At Salisbury" on May 12th at Noon. A USCG Admiral will be hand delivering the scroll to members of the USCG deployed in Iraq. The 396 feet long Scroll that I've gathered messages on for the 10 mountain Division out of Fort Drum, NY- which is deployed in Iraq is also complete. I'm sending it to the unit that the late Sgt Tommy Lee Latham was serving with in his memory. I'm currently looking the address of his unit in Iraq to send the scroll to. Mrs. Lee Whaley who works for U.S. Senator Ben Cardin is trying to find the address.
Today, (4/29/07) Sunday, at 6PM, I will be at the Iwo Jima Memorial at Arlington ("The Marine Corps War Memorial."). (Today (4/29/07) Sunday, at 6PM.) I will be there handing off two huge scrolls to the Commander of the 2D Medical Battalion of the United States Navy. One of the scrolls is a 543 feet long scroll for the 2 Medical Battalion deployed in Iraq, and the other scroll is a 487 feet long scroll for United States Marines deployed in Iraq. I was contacted, and asked to be at the Iwo Jima Memorial (4/29/07) today Sunday at 6PM with both scrolls for a hand-off out in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial. I just finished gathering messages on the scrolls last week, Each scroll is filled with thousands of hand written messages, and drawings. I have been doing the scrolls for deployed U.S. Troops all over the World for 13 years in a row.
The 543 feet long scroll for the 2D Medical Battalion of the United States Navy is going to the unit that the late Corpsman Manuel "Manny" Ruiz of Federalsburg, Maryland was serving with when he was killed in Iraq on February 7th of this year. He was killed in the crash of the "CH46" helicopter that went down in Iraq on February 7th, 2007. I have done the 543 feet long Thank You scroll for his unit in Iraq in his memory. His Commanding Officer told me that he read one of my scrolls in Iraq, when he was deployed there.
The late Navy Corpsman Manuel "Manny" Ruiz of Federalsburg, Maryland signed my scrolls while he was a student in school. When he was a student in school at Colonel Richardson High School he would draw the school mascot on every scroll once the whole school had finished signing. He was an excellent Artist.
Here is a link to a story that ran this week in the "Star Democrat Newspaper's" online Edition at Easton, Maryland about this set of scrolls: www.stardem.com/article.asp?section=1&article=26991
Again, Thank You so much.
George.
George Jackson
American Corner, Maryland
E-mail: acturnip@intercom.net
P.S.:
I will again this year, be at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk - on May 6th. I will have a new set of Scrolls for U.S. Troops deployed in Iraq set up for signing. I will be located where people receive their certificates for walking the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, at the Western Shore edge of the Bridge.
I handed off two scrolls at the Iwo Jima Memorial (The Marine Corps War Memorial.).
One scroll is a 487 feet long scroll for United States Marines deployed in Iraq. and the other 543 feet long Scroll for the 2D Medical Battalion also deployed in Iraq.
There is a news video of the hand off at www.wjla.com at WJLA ABC7 Washington, DC . It is under the Top Videos link at the bottom of the mail page, story name Troop scroll.
ABC 7 WJLA helped me find my way to the Iwo Jima memorial yesterday. I got lost, being that I'm not from the area, and just as I was getting ready to try a different route, my cell phone rang.
On the other end of the line was Jay from WJLA Channel ABC 7, Washington DC, he asked me if I would meet him at the Iwo Jima Memorial. I told him where I was at and that I was lost and had not found my way there yet. This wonderful news reporter (Jay.) and his Videographer (Steve.) told me to stay where I was at and they would come and show my wife and I the way to the Memorial. They showed up in minutes and asked us to follow them, we were there in only several minutes.
When we got there, Jay asked if I could roll a little area of the scroll out for him to see next to the Iwo Jima Memorial. I rolled out a few feet of it and within no time at all a lot of people gathered and wanted to add messages to it. I was about and hour and a half early for my appointment for the hand off of the two scrolls, so I asked my wife Shirley to hand me the box of markers that I had brought along. They started to write in between messages on the scroll and all of a sudden I had crowd's of people waiting to write on the 2D Medical Battalion scroll that was rolled out. The people were from all over the Untied States. At 6 PM the Commander of the 2D Medical Battalion showed up from Camp Lejeune NC, I did not even know he was there because so many wonderful people were waiting to sign the scroll.
Once I realized the Commander was there, my wife Shirley told me that the Commander ( Captain Dave E. Gibson, Commanding Officer, 2D Medical Battalion.) had joined the crowd and had also wrote a message on the scroll for the 2D Medical Battalion in Iraq. Well to make this long story short. I finally got an opportunity to roll the scroll back to its beginning with the help of a lot of wonderful Americans from all over the United States of American. I asked them to shout out what state they were from, WOW! They were from States across the Nation. Also, in the past few days I have met two Veterans of Iwo Jima at separate times. I met one of the Veteran's on Friday at Denton, Maryland, and another Veteran of Iwo Jima yesterday. I'm so glad that I got the address and phone number of the one that I met on Friday, because my wife got the name and address of the one that I met yesterday. One of them lives in Wyoming, and the other lives in Westminster, Maryland. I'm going to send their contact information to each of them, and I'm also sending each of them a photo of each of them talking to me. They were both United States Marines at Iwo Jima when the flag was raised, one of them turned 20 years old while there on the mountain and told me that he took a photo of the flag from one mile away a half hour after it was first raised.- He is the one from Maryland.
I have never seen a harder working news team. Jay and Steve of WJLA ABC-7 Washington, DC, they were constantly working the whole time we were there.
I handed off the 543 feet long scroll for the 2D Medical Battalion which is deployed in Iraq to Captain Dave E. Gibson, Commanding Officer of the 2D Medical Battalion, in the memory of the late Corpsman Manuel "Manny" Ruiz. The scroll is going to the unit in Iraq that he was serving with.
Thank You, for all of your help.
George.
George Jackson
American Corner, Maryland
Article By Steven WInslow (and emails from George Jackson)
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