Houston -If you don't like a good dose of Old-Fashioned American patriotism, then Gilbert's County Line Ice House was not the place to be on Saturday, Jan 22..

Charles "Sarge" Hackney, USMC (retired) was in boot camp when the attack was made on Pearl Harbor.  On January 6th, 1942, less than 30 days after Pearl Harbor, Charles was part of a contingent of troops that boarded ocean liners from Matson Shipping and sailed to the South Pacific to fight a war.  The group landed in the South Pacific on Jan 20th, they were the first group of troops to be sent to the South Pacific.  There's was a long and deadly war, but they were victorious in the end.  When you look at a picture of Sarge from that time, you realize how young these boys were.  We sent boys off to fight and we brought men back home.
On January 22, Sarge's friends threw a surprise party honoring him and all the WWII vets for their bravery and sacrifices.  The event was also planned as a fundraiser for the National Monument for WWII  that is to be constructed on the Mall in Washington, D.C. with all monies raised to be donated in Sarge's name.
If a man's worth is measured by the people who are his friends, then Sarge is certainly a wealthy man because the turnout for this event was one of the largest gatherings ever held at The Gilbert's County Line Ice House.  The area roped off for bikes had to be expanded several times until, finally, the entire front parking area was reserved for bikes - and it still wasn't enough.
The party lasted from 1:00 p.m. until nearly midnight.  The band "Dangerous Dan" provided the live entertainment, and they were really jamming until they finally quit about 10:30 p.m.
Robert and Deidre Gilbert, the owners of the ice house, are due a special vote of appreciation for providing the band, the fish fry, arranging for many of the auction and door prize items and just being great hosts.
Many of the local motorcycle clubs participated, we saw the colors of the Amigos MC, the High Rollers MC, the Ft. Bend Gypsy MC, the Los Carnales MC and La Familia MC.  When the clubs provide their support to an event it goes a long ways towards making it successful.
From the  youngest to the oldest, everyone had a good time.

The auction was held during the band's intermission and people showed their support for the cause by paying much more than market value for most of the items. But they were showing their support for the Vets and for all who fought in WWII.  Bikers are a generous bunch of people.
Gilbert's has a real knack for perfectly frying fish in large quantities, it, along with the french fries and hush puppies, was delicious.

The 50:50 drawing tickets were also the tickets used to qualify winners for the door prizes.  Multiple wins were allowed and the winning tickets were put back in for the 50:50 drawing.  The winner of the 50:50 drawing was from the La Familia MC.  She won about $276 and she graciously donated a large amount back to the benefit on behalf of the club.  Those La Familia people are "good folks."

The bike show was a "people's choice".  A bag was placed beside each bike when it came in.  Votes were based on the number of tickets (25 cents each) placed in the bag.  When Fuzzy bought a large number of tickets and put into his own bag (hey, that's legal, this is for charity) one of the high-ranking, not to be identified, members of La Familia got the bright idea of switching bags with Fuzzy and then having his "brothers" buy tickets and add to the "borrowed" bag.  Great idea.  It was only when Fuzzy was announced as the winner that the scalawag realized the numbers written on the bag were the license plate numbers of the corresponding bike.  Fuzzy would like to especially thank all of the La Familia members who, unwittingly, cast their votes for his bike. . . and to that unidentified La Familia member - "are you in town this week, or will you be driving your 18-wheeler?"

The event was marred by an accident when one of the attendees, Tim Hartmann,  lost control of his bike and crashed.  He was life-flighted to Hermann Hospital.  We talked with him the following day, he is getting along well and scheduled for surgery on Tuesday for a very bad leg break.

--Larry 

You can read a "Thank You note from the Gilberts"