{"id":113253,"date":"2015-04-13T19:52:06","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T01:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/this-year-memorial-day-to-be-a-bit-more-special\/"},"modified":"2015-04-13T19:52:06","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T01:52:06","slug":"this-year-memorial-day-to-be-a-bit-more-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/this-year-memorial-day-to-be-a-bit-more-special\/","title":{"rendered":"This year, Memorial Day to be a bit more special"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"When
When the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge train races the riders in the Citizens Tour this year, 80 veterans, wounded warriors, Gold Star camily members and Adaptive Sports athletes will be on the train.<\/span>Shaun Stanley\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Well, the event is Memorial Day weekend, after all.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic and sponsors have set up something special this year to honor the holiday\u2019s purpose: Eighty seats on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad that races Citizens Tour cyclists will be filled by wounded warriors, veterans, Gold Star family members and Adaptive Sports Association athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like we kind of monopolize town that weekend, and we probably aren\u2019t doing a good job recognizing this is a holiday weekend,\u201d said Gaige Sippy, director of the Iron Horse. \u201cIn my opinion, the veteran world goes totally under the radar screen in this town.\u201d<\/p>\n

The train will depart from Durango at 8 a.m. May 23, its whistle being the honorary signal for the cyclists to begin pedaling.<\/p>\n

A quick refresher course: Memorial Day \u2013 May 25 this year \u2013 honors U.S. soldiers who have died while serving. It originally was called Decoration Day when created after The Civil War.<\/p>\n

Janna Schaefer, with the Disabled American Veterans, said she has had no trouble filling the 80 spots with people who qualify to ride the train and already has established a waiting list.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a wonderful idea,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cIt is Memorial Day, and a lot of times people forget what this day is all about. This is something that\u2019s honoring (deceased soldiers) and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several local luminaries will be part of the train ride and festivities, which will include a lunch in Memorial Park in Silverton and a planned military-jet flyover in Silverton. Among them are retired Air Force Gen. Ron Fogleman, with his wife, Miss Jane, and former U.S. Sen. Ben Campbell and his wife, Linda. Schaefer, whose husband, Air Force Staff Sgt. Stephen Schaefer, died because of ailments suffered during Desert Storm, also will ride the train.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt adds a new group to Iron Horse weekend,\u201d Sippy said.<\/p>\n

The 80 seats are being sponsored by the Iron Horse committee, Mercy Regional Medical Center, the D&SNGR and the Hampton Inn.<\/p>\n

Gold Stars are given to family members of those soldiers who have died in military operations. Adaptive Sports Association, a nonprofit operated at Purgatory Resort, serves those with mental or physical disabilities.<\/p>\n

Those wishing to help sponsor or help with the event can email Pam Glasco at sponsorship@ironhorsebicycleclassic.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

General registration for the Citizens Tour sold out in December, but it\u2019s still possible to enter through the Iron Horse\u2019s charitable partners. A few road-race categories still have openings. Other weekend events are still open.<\/p>\n

johnp@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

partners with the train to honor veterans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6328,6313],"tags":[13,2111,184],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-113253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-2-more-sports","category-sports-2","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-iron-horse-bicycle-classic","tag-veterans-affairs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113253"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=113253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}