Military Honors
Denise Barrett Olson

The end of this month, America will honor the men and women who died while serving their country. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance - not only for those who were killed in combat, but for all veterans who have passed on. And, like many things military, it is a day of ceremony and tradition.  

 

Active military and military veterans, unless dishonorably discharged, are eligible for military funeral honors and burial in a national cemetery at the family's request. Military funeral honors include the playing of Taps as part of the committal service and an American flag draped over the coffin which is later folded and presented to the family. Two or more uniformed military members with at least one from the Veteran's branch of service serve on the honors detail. Full honors funerals are reserved for service members who die or are killed while on active duty and Medal of Honor recipients. The military detail provided may consist of 21 service members to include pallbearers, a color guard, a firing detail, a bugler and a chaplain.

Each of the components of a military funeral is based in history:

• The flag-draped coffin originated during the Napoleonic Wars when the dead were covered with a flag to be taken from the battlefield on a caisson (a wagon designed to haul ammunition). 
• The flag is removed from the coffin and folded 12 times into a triangle shape leaving only the field of stars visible. Often three of the spent rounds from the firing detail are tucked into the folds before the flag is presented to the family.
• When a firing detail is present, it consists of seven members and they fire three volleys. This tradition also evolved from a battlefield custom. At times during a battle both warring sides would cease fighting to clear the dead and wounded from the battlefield. Each side would fire three volleys to announce they had properly cared for their dead and were ready to resume fighting.
• Taps originated during the Civil War as a bugle call announcing the end of the day for Union troops. Later it would symbolize the call to sleep for the dead.
• One of the newer traditions is the missing man formation. This is a fly-by of aircraft in a four-aircraft formation with either the No. 3 aircraft missing or performing a pull-up maneuver to signify a lost comrade.

While not a part of a military funeral, the ramp ceremony has become a fixture during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a memorial ceremony usually held at an airfield near the battlefield and attended by members of the dead service member's unit to honor him as he starts his final trip home.

 

Another recent addition to the honors paid to a military member killed in combat is a military escort detailed to escort the body from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to his final resting place. In 2009, HBO released *Taking Chance*, the true story of Marine Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl's experience while escorting the remains of Lance Corporal Chase Phelps to his family in Wyoming. It is an emotional film, but also a true representation of the honors rendered by members of the military family to those who served and died for our country.

My local national cemetery first served as a post cemetery during the Seminole Wars of the early 19th century. It is now closed to new interments, but on Memorial Day it is the site for a ceremony honoring the local men and women who have served and died for our country. I will include some of the military honors normally included in a funeral, but it is not a mournful event. It celebrates the spirit of the people we came to honor.

Photos courtesy of the Florida National Guard's Military Honors Program.