On 9 May, 30 Purple Heart recipients will arrive in POC for our annual Purple Heart Classic in the hopes of taking home a big prize. Thirty boat captains have donated their time, equipment, and expertise so those that have bled in combat for our country can have a great time in and around the waters of POC and hopefully forget about their sacrifices. These folks love coming to this tournament, yes, it is a tournament, and jump at the chance when invited. They will check in at 5D beginning the afternoon of the 9th and stay for dinner and the captains’ meeting (including a Calcutta) and meet their boat captain if they don’t already know them. So many of them have not only suffered wounds in battle but have lost many friends in battle as well not to mention suicide when they get back home. We at WW believe it is our duty to remind as many as we can that their service and sacrifice has not been forgotten.
As many of you have heard by now, there are big changes coming for Warrior’s Weekend XVIII. Our dates for the Big Event (350-400) combat wounded will be October 11th-13th. You will no longer see the big tent at the POC Community Center as we are moving our base of operations to Port Lavaca and the Bauer Community Center. Over the past years, the city of Port Lavaca has been very supportive to WW in many ways, not the least of which is through HOT Funds, the Hotel Occupancy Tax collected when any hotel room is booked in the City of Port Lavaca. This also takes away much of the worry of weather impacting our event as much as well as not having to bear the tremendous expense of renting the tent tables and chairs, paying for fuel for the generators, etc. We appreciate the donations of Caterpillar and Holt Cat (now Texas First Rentals) over the years, but Port Lavaca simply offers too good of an opportunity not to mention their support.
One of our main problems has gotten to be the lack of boat captains to take our heroes out on the big day. Folks say to us all the time, “Why are y’all still doing this? The war is over”. It is never over for the heroes we serve. NEVER!! Have you been paying attention to what is transpiring in the Middle East lately? On and on it goes. We will open boat captain sign ups in June. We make all our announcements on our Facebook page, Warrior’s Weekend-Texas. Please dedicate one of your many days on the water to show a true hero that you indeed appreciate their service and sacrifice for this great country of ours. They and the ones that went before them allow us to live the life we do.
If you’d like to come to 5D on 9 May and shake the hand of a real hero, feel free to. They, above all, deserve it. And please, be sure to sign up as a boat captain for October. We will continue to fish out of POC. Many of you in POC have been very supportive, certainly the good folks @ Froggies, the Dolphin Talk, POCO Loco Lodge, Empire Lodge and Fisherman’s Chapel just to name a few. I think you will agree that WW has brought a tremendous amount of business to POC over the years, and we will continue to do so. Hope to see you at 5D on the 9th. 18 Years, who would have thunk it? Stronger than ever!
Ron Kocian, President
Warrior’s Weekend
A 501 c 3 Non-Profit
