F.I.S.H.

On May 6, 2009 the third annual Wounded Warriors’ Pier Fishing trip was held. 25 or so Wounded Warriors and three wives with the assistance of 15 volunteers spent the day filling coolers and buckets with their catches of bluefish, spanish mackeral, sea mullet and a flounder or two.  As in the past years all pier passes, fishing gear, bait and lunch was provided by Greg Ludlum and the staff of the Sea View Pier in North Topsail Beach, NC.  This year one of the Wounded Warriors fishing was Cpl. Ryan Hughes who had also attended the first WW Pier Fishing trip in 2007.

Not only did this years Pier trip have the most participants fishing, it definitely had the best fish catches.  A conservative estimate of 150 bluefish, 75 sea mullet, 12 rays, 8 sharks, 4 spanish mackeral and a puffer were caught and released to fight another day by the Warriors.  But the greatest catch of all was the smiles of all the Wounded Warriors.  These young men went away to distant lands as healthy young men and returned with injuries that in some cases will affect them for the rest of their lives.  In spite of it all, everyone of them to a man; said they want to go back and stand beside their brothers in arms.  The word Hero can not be defined better than that.  Each Warrior and volunteer received a t-shirt specially designed to commemorate the event.  Much of the cost of the t-shirts was paid for by a sizable donation from Surf City IGA in Surf City, NC. 

View a video clip from Charlotte’s channel 14 news.