them to fuel us, to continue his legacy. it is important for us as americans to understand the service and sacrifice of the men and women that have given their all. we committed that day his life was lost to make sure his legacy and legacy of all men and women continued on. you were doing that every day, not just on memorial day, it is every day. the honor project co-founded by travis mannion foundation had 300 volunteers. how many veterans have you honored through the project so far? i actually got in my car from arlington cemetery and drove here to the studio where we had paid visits to over 4,000 grave sites. we had 300 volunteers through the weekend that stopped by, paid respects to 4,000 men and women who have given their lives in service. that s incredible.
action by a sniper while serving in iraq. the loss was so devastating, but colonel mannion was determined to carry on his son s spirit of service, and he started a new foundation in his son s honor. the mission is to empower veterans and parents of fallen service members so they become mentors and role models in their communities. colonel mannion wrote, quote: through travis mannion foundation, i have gained thousands of sons and daughters cut from the same cloth. the living legacy of our country s enduring spirit, of duty and honor, we are honored to have retired colonel the tom mannion with us right now, the father of travis mannion. colonel, our deep thanks for your service and for your son s service, of course. our sincere sympathies at his loss are. thanks, eric. eric: of course. but what you and your family have gone through has put you on a new mission with this
see, you know, i hate to even refer to it as protesting because it was an accelerated version of that to say the least was really hard when we try to own still unity versus creating more division. ainsley: ryan, tell me your brother. my brother was my best friend. we were 15 months apart. and he and brendan are the inspiration behind everything we do at the travis mannion foundation. i think we have incredible opportunity here to start a dialogue about how we can celebrate our differences as opposed to using violence and inciting hate. ainsley: i want to talk about the foundation but, first, amy, i want you to honor your husband. what was he like? words can t even express, you know, the amazing man that brendan is. and, you know, service before self was something that was so important to him. so, you know, him being able to give back to his country, putting himself on the line was something that he prided himself the most in.
nearly 60% drop from his first term. and that s news by the numbers. now, this ainsley. ainsley: thank you, steve. ryan man i don mannion. best friend and husband of amy loany, lieutenant brendan loony was killed in afghanistan. well, ryan and amy went to washington for the inauguration and as they were driving up to the veterans inaugural ball where brian was, they noticed this group of angry protesters. they filmed it on their cell phones. but the video does not show what happened next. they were actually assaulted. they were pushed. they were spit on. and they were called names. and they join me now. we welcome ryan mannion and amy loony. together they lead the travis mannion foundation. good morning, ladies. thanks for being with us. good morning, ainsley. ainsley: ryan, i will start with you. what happened? we were excited to be attending the veterans inaugural ball honoring close to 40 medal of honor
recipients that night. amy and i were representing the mannion foundation. unfortunately as we got there, we found ourselves separated from the rest of the group that was walking to the gala that night and were caught in between entrance to the event and about 75 protesters that got very angry with us. and really converged on us and did the horrible things that you just talked about. ainsley: amy, i m sure your reaction was just disbelief. but what hurt you the most about this? you know, i think that it was for ryan and i, you know, we were there to support our military community, which is a community that has given, you know, so much to us through our loss and through the work we do at the travis mannion foundation and empowering our veterans and families that have fall ton develop character in future generations. so to witness this act and to