It seems an unlikely alliance: Rough and tumble motorcycle riders serving as protectors of military families from a lunatic anti-gay church.

But the Patriot Guard Riders get involved in any activity related to protecting the rights of military personnel and their families.

The group, which includes veterans from the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was formed three years ago to shield the families of fallen American servicemen and women from having their funerals disrupted by protesters from the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. The church believes combat deaths are God's way of punishing America for being tolerant of homosexuality.

Some 20 members of the Rhode Island chapter of the Patriotic Guard Riders gathered at the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro, Mass., on Tuesday to escort a convoy of two tractor trailers containing 10,000 Christmas wreaths along with fellow Patriotic Guard Riders, state troopers and supporters on their way to Arlington National Cemetery.

The group has been escorting the convoys since 2005. That was the year Wreaths Across America was established by Morrill Worcester of the Maine-based Worcester Wreath Co. after his regular donations of Christmas wreaths to Arlington gained increased attention and support.

He said he started in 1992 with 5,000 wreaths; this year he said more than 105,000 wreaths will be laid at veterans cemeteries across America and around the world.

The Patriot Guard Riders - men and women - are mainly drawn from different motorcycle clubs and volunteer their time to "Stand up for those who stood up."

There is no uniform other than their heavy leather riding boots, chaps and jackets, and their disparate appearance stood in stark contrast to the crisp uniforms of the state troopers and older vets in their uniforms and folding caps. But what binds them to Morrill Worcester, the troopers and the older vets is an intense patriotism.

Indeed, America won its initial and greatest freedom with men such as these - the Minutemen who answered the revolutionary call to arms from farms, villages and towns without benefit of uniforms.

They may have looked rough and tumble against the crisp lines of the British Redcoats, but they won the war and the freedoms that Worcester values enough to donate his Christmas wreaths every year in honor of the nation's fallen.

And his gesture, and the growing response to it, echoes the establishment of the first tomb of the unknown soldier. The idea to bury the body of a British soldier "known but to God" in Westminster Abbey was born of the carnage of World War One.

At first there was little enthusiasm for the idea, partly because of the recent building of the Cenotaph (empty tomb) memorial. But by the time the flag-draped coffin made its way through the streets of London on Nov. 11, 1920, hundreds of thousands stood in grief-stricken silence as it passed and later paid their respects in a steady line that went on for days and nights.

So the Christmas wreaths adorning the gravesites of American servicemen and women courtesy of Morrill Worcester and his heartfelt idea serve as a reminder of those that gave us everything they had so we might be free to enjoy this season of thanksgiving and gift giving.

As his mission statement says:
"Remember the fallen; Honor those who serve;
Teach our children the value of freedom."

- Peter C.T. Elsworth