• On Friday I was tipped off by telephone from Ranger John Hart (IL USARA Chair) that Ranger and dignitaries were starting to show up at our local large hotel (Pere Marquette) for Wayne' s services on Saturday;
• On Saturday, we arrived 1 hour early and found the streets around St. Thomas Catholic Church blocked by the police; groupings of 4 American Flags were around the church (and later on the route to the reception at the Country Club of Peoria);
• Uniformed Special Ops (Rangers, SEALS, Airmen, Marines) were in charge of seating the attendees and otherwise running the show;
• Contributions could be made to Special Operations Warrior Foundation; National Ranger Memorial Foundation; which we did in lieu of flowers;
• The program was an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" slick multi-page color booklet; front: photo of Wayne in uniform "General Wayne A. Downing 1940-2007 Memorial Service" with a background of the Spec Ops patch and black and white background of combat scenes; 3 page of his life and obit; 1 page with his Major Duty Assignments and After Active Military Duty; 1 very well written page entitled "A Soldier's Tribute" at the top and "Rangers Lead the Way." at the bottom; on the outer back cover was "The RANGER Creed" and ending at the bottom "Rangers Lead The Way!"
• I introduced myself to Ranger (LTG) Wagner (CO Spec Ops) who I had met at West Point (the only time that I have been there) when Wayne's Combating Terrorism Center had been dedicated in November 2004;
• Wayne's family was on the right side; and on the left side were at least 5 reserved rows for the military (behind that was a row with Brian Williams, Lisa Meyers and their production crew);
• Watching the military contingent  I observed Gen Doug Brown and another 4 star (AF I believe) and a high ranking Marine in uniform be seated; probably 40 plus others in suits (who I thought were probably retired military...since I had asked Wayne once if (after retirement) he ever wore his uniform...and he said no (other than at a formal occasion)....which I surmised was so as not to "confuse" the troops with who is running this show.....!!!
• I observed in a suit Ranger (COL) Thomas, a trim-sharp fellow who I had met during my WP trip...who at that time was in jump boots and just back from Afghanistan and had with him TWO sons in uniform attending WP...later I introduced myself to him and he reported that one son had graduated and the second son was at WP;
• Ranger (LTG) Wagner spoke and went through the names of the military present and those (high ranking) who had expressed their condolences to Kathy and the family, but could not attend...I later gave him my business card and requested a copy of his remarks...he was non-committal, but if I receive them I will share them with you in a subsequent email;
• Our local paper (www.pjstar.com ) did a fine job in covering Wayne. He was active in the community and added much to Central Illinois during his relatively short period (say 6 or 7 years) of being "back home" after his Army career; one of the reported quotes in an editorial entitled "A Patriot To Be Proud Of" was from Ranger (GEN) Colin Powell in a telephone call to Kathy: "He was a soldier's soldier. He and I are both Infantrymen. We're taught some things at the Infantry School. One is...that the mission is always uppermost, and nothing should stand in the way of accomplishing the mission. But the second thing we're taught is take care of the troops....Wayne was good at that."
• In speaking afterwards to both Kathy and Father Thomas Taylor, they gave the Special Operations Command full credit for organizing the impressive and well-run tribute to Wayne;
• The trip to the reception at the Country Club of Peoria was under police escort and along Grand View Drive (where Wayne and Kathy reside), referred to by President Teddy Roosevelt as the "World's Most Beautiful Drive", past many clusters of 4 American Flags...and to the CCP that was closed to everyone but the Downing party...permitting visiting and fellowship, especially for those that had traveled great distances to honor Wayne.