When It Comes To Military Stories, Tampa Tribune-TBO.com Readers React

Posted Jan 14, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Jan 14, 2012 at 10:05 PM

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the level of caring the folks in the Tampa Bay area have when it comes to those who serve.

Reader reaction to recent stories about veterans is a great indicator.

Last month, I wrote about Ryan and Nicole Fouriner, a family still struggling to cope after Ryan, an Army specialist, was wounded in Iraq.

I was introduced to the Fourniers by Mike Whitt, who runs Operation American Pride with his wife, Deborah.

After the story ran, I was besieged by calls and emails, with offers of assistance for the Fournier family. Operation American Pride was too.

“Including donations of furniture, we raised between $9,000 and $10,000,” Mike Whitt told me Saturday night. “I got some guys to go over an put railings in the stairwell, to keep the couple’s 2-year-old from falling down the stairs. We were able to give them Christmas, and bought them a new microwave, because the old one blew up. We were able to give them groceries for four months. And, we paid four months rent. The community really responded - all due to the article. It was pretty cool.”

Operation American Pride has a new mission.

A homeless veteran was hit while riding his bike in Brandon Thursday night. He required a hospital stay and his bike was ruined.

Operation American Pride got him a new one.

“He can’t walk that far,” said Whitt. “He relies on bicycle. When he found out his bike was destroyed, he said he was said, because he had only two more payments to make on it. So we said the one we gave you is all yours.”

Last week, I wrote about how a three-year tradition of holding monthly honor ceremonies at Bay Pines National Cemetery for veterans who are buried with no families was changed to a quarterly ceremony beginning this month.

The change irked the American Legion Post 273 Honor Guard, Patriot Guard Riders and Bay Pines volunteers who put the ceremonies together. When I called Kurt Rotar, director of the Florida National Cemetery, he said he didn’t know people were upset by the change. After my call, he agreed to meet with the riders.

Friday, he had a meeting with Bay Pines officials and the volunteers who put together the ceremonies.

“We are going back to the monthly ceremonies beginning Feb. 7,” he told me Friday, saying he got the commitment he was looking for that the honor guards would show up, along with clergy.

Randall McNabb, who helped start the ceremonies back in 2009, said he was very happy with the result.

“Even though the veterans may already be interred, us being out there gives them the proper honor and respect they deserve,” he said.