This past Saturday, July 23, 2011, various fire & rescue departments showed up to show their support at this event.

Thank you to North Beach VFD, Huntingtown VFD, Calvert Advance Life Support, Calvert County Rescue Dive Team, and Marlboro Station 20. A very special thank you to Prince Frederick VFD for staging on the side of Rt 260 & Dunkirk VFD for staging at the Rod-N-Reel to welcome the soldiers & their families. You could have gone home but instead you made a sacrifice after the 0400 house fire and came straight to the event.

This year was the 5th Annual Operation Hope on the Chesapeake an event of Operation Second Chance. This event is to honors our nation's military heroes who are currently at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

These heroes and their families arrived on Saturday morning in a chartered bus and were escorted by the Red Knights and the Calvert County Sheriff's Department. The motorcade began at the Calvert County line, continued down Route 260, through the town and ended at the Rod and Reel Resort and Hotel. Various community members gathered along 260 and through the town to show their support, many waving flags to show support and welcome the heros.

Throughout the weekend the heroes and their families participated in numerous events from Saturday's Charter Fishing Trips out of the Rod-N-Reel, a Cookout at American Legion Post #206 to a concert on the North Beach Boardwalk. On Sunday, the heroes and their families continued their getaway. Some visited the Chesapeake Beach Waterpark, others headed back down to the North Beach Pier to enjoy fishing and the beach. The heroes and their families participated in numerous events throughout the weekend as their options of what to do in the Beaches were endless.

The history of the event started in August 1946, when Agnes Crew and Wesley Stinnett honored WWII veterans by hosting a one-day fishing trip for GI's from Walter Reed. In 2007, Operation Second Chance hosted their first event in the same town 60 years later. For the first 3 years, the event was a one-day fishing trip and BBQ feast. In 2010, with the approval of Walter Reed, the event expanded to a two-day affair.