Thursday, July 26th

Have you ever been to a place where you felt like you were in another time? That's Olathe, Colorado. Olathe (you say Oh-Lay-Thu) is nine-miles north of Montrose in the Uncompaghre Valley of western Colorado. The population of the town is 1400 people. American Legion Post 24 is here. It's the Speirs-Dennis Post, named after two young men from the town who were killed in WWI. In the Post they have pictures of the boys in their military uniforms, and of Mrs. Speirs standing at her sons graveside in France in the late 1920's. They don't forget here.
That's what happens in small towns. When something bad happens to one, everyone suffers. When Chad Maynard from neighboring Montrose was killed in June 2005 in Iraq, the whole valley felt the pain. They can still tell you with pride about the memorial ceremony. When Chris Sitton was killed in August of 2006 in Afghanistan his grandfather, chaplain at the local VFW Post, wondered why he survived WWII and his grandson was taken. People here still talk about the service, and the roll each played that day. They don't forget here.
We started the Tour of Colorado to make sure the people of Colorado knew we hadn't forgotten about their sons and daughters that had been killed in action. The Colorado Freedom Memorial will list all of the names of Colorado's fallen heroes so future generations will know who they were. The people of Olathe said, thanks, but they hadn't waited for us. They have remembered all along. They don't forget here.