Marty was a long time member of the
Patriot Guard Riders. He joined the PGR when it began
here in Ohio. He would come to every mission he could
and always wanted to help make sure everything was
right of whomever the mission was for. He made sure
he watched the mission threads and always post
something to them. He will be missed.
I have added comments form Robert
“Tater” Smith and Vic Fisher, after reading
them you will see why Marty was liked so well.
“Apes in the Wind”, Brother.
Bob Woods
Ohio State Captain
Patriot Guard Riders
One memorable Mission in
Mechanicsburg Ohio for a Volunteer Firefighter, my
wife and I arrived early, we thought.....Marty and
Butch (another Member of great stature) were already
on duty assisting in the parking and staging of what
seemed over 100 Emergency Vehicles from all over the
country. His first thought was always, "What can
I do?" As an early State Captain, one of my
fears was the safety of our members to and from a
Mission, always praying for their safe return home. I
always knew when Marty would be there, the posting of
"Apes in the Wind" and his safe return home
posting, "Back in the Man Cave." At one
time he had the tail of his bike strutted to make it
a " hard tail ", but later put the shocks
back on. I remember his tell tail glass wrap on the
pipes, and his full brown leather all weather gear.
Marty quickly gained respect for his not being a
"fair weather rider", rain, cold, it didn't
matter to him, he had a Mission. We became closer and
swapped phone numbers, and hooked up whenever
possible, until I started driving over the road that
is. Marty felt good off and on, and to my great
regret, never quite hooked up again.
Robert “Tater” Smith
Martin
D."MARTY" Blackman, Thank you for your
service to our country, Thank you for your service to
the PGR, and Thank you for allowing me to call you a
good friend. You see I had the pleasure of riding
with Marty on many occasions. I live in Marysville
and Marty was on the way on many missions, so we
would meet up and head on down the road. Marty was
truly in heaven going down the road, weaving in and
out of cars on the freeway and pointing to the lane
he ways heading to next. I don't think he knew or
wanted to know what a turn signal was. Marty
instilled in me the pure pleasure of the ride, easy
does it, stop for extra crispy fries, maybe a cold
beer and finally head to the MAN cave. All of us
could learn a lot from the amount of respect Marty
had while we were actively at "the
mission". Straight up at attention, straight
flag, mouth shut, willing do whatever and cut of
shirt sleeves (no matter the weather). Marty's rain
gear on most wet rides home was his cut off shirt and
sunglasses. I will never forget the times we had,
especially the time that we almost taped a keg at a
VFW after a mission. The only problem was that we
were at the wrong VFW, no wonder Marty and I were the
ONLY PGR members there. Marty my brother, I will miss
riding with you on the missions, but rest assured
that I will be able to close my eyes and see you on
the beautiful old school Harley riding along the side
of all of us! If you have the time please come on out
Saturday and lets all show Marty how much he meant to
us.
Love Ya my brother!
Vic
Fisher
