May 18, 2015
It’s fairly certain that few people in America have as much appreciation for the various aspects of Memorial Day weekend as Jon Wood and his sister Jordan Wood Hicks.
For many, the weekend is about motor racing, with the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 all running on the Sunday before Memorial Day. For Jon and Jordan, the son and daughter of Eddie Wood, co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing, Memorial Day weekend racing is a way of life, a part of their DNA.
Fifty years ago this weekend, their grandfather, Glen Wood, and their great-uncles Leonard, Delano and Ray Lee took their pit-road skills to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where their quick work helped propel Jim Clark and Ford Motor Company to victory in the 1965 Indianapolis 500.
The Wood Brothers team also has made Memorial Day history at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600, winning NASCAR’s longest race four times (1974, 1976, 1982 and 1987) and sitting on the pole eight times.
Jon and Jordan will be at Charlotte this weekend as Ryan Blaney drives the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion in his first 600. They’ll be supporting their family’s No. 21 Fusion, but they’ll also be taking part in the other aspect of Memorial Day weekend – remembering those members of America’s armed forces who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of their fellow Americans.
For the Coca-Cola 600, the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Fusion will carry a special logo honoring Marine Cpl. Jonathan Bowling of their hometown of Stuart, Va. Bowling was killed on Jan. 26, 2005, in the Al Anbra Province of Iraq when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his Humvee. Bowling was serving with the Marine Corps Reserve’s 4th Combat Engineer Battallion of the 4th Marine Division.
He was just 23 years old.
All across America, in communities large and small, there often is one fallen soldier who becomes the face of Memorial Day for their family, friends and neighbors. In the south Virginia town of Stuart, it’s Jon Bowling.
When his body was returned home, more than 5,000 residents of Stuart and the surrounding area turned out on a snowy night and stood in line to pay their respects to Bowling, whose coffin was placed in the same Patrick County High School he attended as a youngster. No funeral home was large enough to accommodate the crowd of mourners.
For Jordan Hicks, recognizing Bowling on the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Fusion during the Coca-Cola 600, gives her a chance to let the NASCAR community learn about a truly great America and a person who had close ties to both the Wood family and the race team itself. Bowling’s great-uncle is Chris Williams, Glen Wood’s original partner in the Wood Brothers racing team.
“It is very special that my family is honoring Jonathan Bowling this weekend,” Hicks said. “He and his family mean the world to me and hold a very special place in my heart. I grew up with Jon because my two best friends, Ashley and Brooke, were his sisters. Jon always kept a good eye on us and made sure we weren’t causing trouble.
“Jon was a great man, and I am thankful that we able to honor him this weekend.”
For Jon Wood, the 10 years that have passed since Bowling died haven’t dimmed the memory of his childhood friend. Back in grade school days, they shared many experiences including having the same first name.
“Living in Stuart and it being such a small place, we literally were in the same classrooms for the majority of our elementary school years,” Wood said. “He was referred to as Jon B. and I was Jon W. because the teachers had to have some way of differentiating us.”
Wood said it took the loss of his friend to really see the kind of person he really was.
“This kid was to put it bluntly, just a flat-out good kid,” Wood said. “There’s no other way of putting it.” “Oftentimes, when you reflect on someone’s character, there’s some degree of bad that you balance with the good. Those bad things are many times laughed off and make the remembrance have a little humor to it. In the case of Jonathan Bowling, there was no bad.”
Bowling indeed was an “all-American” person. His respect for his elders and service to others around him was well documented. He worked as a police officer in Martinsville, Va., and was a volunteer firefighter and rescue worker. He also was made an elder in his church at the age of 14.
Joining the Marine Corps was the next; albeit biggest, step for a person destined to give back more than he got in life.
“People join the military for various reasons and some are more noble than others, but it was obvious in his case his calling was because that’s the type of person he was,” Wood said. “You don’t just become a Marine, a policeman and a firefighter for the fun of it or just to have a job. It takes a special person to put themselves in harm’s way, in not one but three separate jobs, to help others.”
Wood said that puts Bowling in an elite class, even compared to the top NASCAR stars, who for many are larger-than-life personalities.
“The true hero is the guy that I knew from my childhood, that woke up everyday in a hot, foreign place, threw his gun over his shoulder, and did what he needed to do to make sure we enjoyed the freedom to watch these race car drivers each week, and all the other things we as Americans sometimes forget to realize,” Wood said. “It honestly gives me chills to just think about it. So this weekend is about him. It’s about Corporal Jonathan Bowling, Brooke and Ashley’s brother, Darrell and Robin’s son, Jon B. to his classmates, and hero to everyone else that knew him.”
