When we make friends, we usually try to keep them here with us for a while. We want them to be our buddies until the end of forever but for George Gifford his hopes of that happening are constantly shot down.
      George Gifford does not look like the type of guy who was a professional motorcycle rider. He does not look like the guy who rides his motorcycle around the country. He also does not look like the guy who has been watching his friends die. George is a Vietnam Veteran and still remembers the horrors of the war. “The worst thing that I ever saw during war was ‘friendly fire’. Watching men kill their own friends and not show any sign of distress is just...it’s just depressing. It really drags your soul down and stomps on it,” says George. He has seen his own friends be gunned down and there wasn’t a thing in the world he could do about it. “My father is a WWII veteran and just knowing that makes me feel so proud. That is why I became a marine for 26 years.” George says. He has so much confidence. One of the most memorable accidents George has is when his friend fell out of a tree and was electrocuted. “I lost a friend but at the same time I had just gained another. My friend’s brother took the death really hard but we were there for each other. He and I became really close friends after that.” George says he tried really hard to act okay after that but all of that happened in the prime of his life practically bringing him down. One of the worst things that George ever had to witness was when the guy he worked for fell into a John Deere Chuck Wagon and got his lungs punctured and a lot of his arteries cut. “I think I would have been fine he would of died instantly but he died slowly right in front of my eyes. I wish I could have helped him but there was nothing I could do.” George has lost many friends to different things but one thing that they have left him is they have changed him in some way, shape, or form and that is why friends are forever.