The service men and women taking part in the Wounded Warrior Event on Cape Cod stand in front of the Kennedy Compound.
YARMOUTH – Around 60 wounded young American service men and women from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began their Cape Cod visit Wednesday on a high note.
The warriors were given a police escort to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port where they toured the grounds and were greeted by Ethel Kennedy, who then invited them into her home.
They later had dinner on the beach outside of the Red Jacket Resort in Yarmouth.
Ethel Kennedy greets the service men and women taking part in the Wounded Warrior Project event on Cape Cod.
The Wounded Warrior Project is funding the fifth annual event on the Cape, which brings wounded service men and women from across the country to the region for a few days.
Yarmouth Police Patrol Officer Nicholas Giammarco is a veteran who is taking part in the event.
He said he was happy that Yarmouth Police are assisting in organizing the event.
“It speaks volumes, especially being a veteran, that the department is taking part in this, it means so much to the veterans from all over the country,” said Giammarco.
The warriors will be fitted with specially adapted bicycles to ride down the Shining Sea Bikeway from North Falmouth to Woods Hole on Thursday.
A number of children are expected to line both sides of the bikeway with flags as the wounded service men and women pass by on their bikes.
On Friday, they will travel from Truro to Provincetown before boarding a ferry from Provincetown to Boston for a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.
The warriors will then participate in the annual Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride in Boston on Saturday.
Giammarco said he is proud to show his fellow service men and women Cape Cod.
“It’s really a beautiful place, there’s so much beauty, so much to see and experience on the Cape and I really hope that it’s something that wounded warriors can look at it and say that this is a place they want to go back to and visit and get a little more out of it,” said Giammarco.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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