Veterans perform honor guard at funerals

ST. LOUIS -- Pat McDonald, 83, stood at crisp attention as he shouted the command to fire. His rifle team ripped three tight volleys, the spent casings clinking softly against nearby gravestones.

Cordite briefly stung the air, followed by the slow and somber call of taps. Then the only sound was of wind through trees.

After the service, a nephew of the deceased asked the four men in American Legion uniforms for some of the casings as family keepsakes. "You guys do good work," he said.

"It's the least we can do," McDonald responded.

It is much more than that.

McDonald, a member of Legion Post 162 in the Lemay area, is among the volunteers who serve on rifle-salute teams at funerals of former service personnel in Missouri. Their organizations receive a stipend from the state. The teams receive the thanks of grateful families.

"It's a solemn tribute," said Nancy Demond of Dupo, whose father's burial service at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery was attended by McDonald's team. "Those men are so dedicated, and the rifles are such a moving touch."

Her father, Frank Crouch, was 87 when he died. He was discharged from the Navy 67 years ago, but wanted to be buried with military honors.

The Department of Defense sends full honor guards, including rifle teams, to the gravesides of those who were killed in action, received high honors for bravery or served full careers.

For veterans who honorably served a few years in uniform -- and that's most everyone else -- the armed forces provide two or three active-duty personnel to fold and present the flag, and provide the sound of taps. (Usually, the melody is from a musical device inside the horn of a bugle, similar in shape to a trumpet mute. It remains a sore point with some veterans' groups, but skilled buglers are hard to come by.)

Providing rifle volleys has been the goal in Missouri since 1999. The Missouri National Guard's funeral program contracts with 168 veterans organizations statewide to provide the four-member teams (a commander and three rifles). They attended 7,734 services in 2012.

Because most funerals take place on weekdays, almost all of the rifle-team members are retired. McDonald was in the Army almost 30 years, serving as a paratrooper and retiring as a master sergeant. He still makes an occasional jump, most recently in July.

"I stay in shape and I'm gung-ho. I like doing this for my country," said McDonald. "And I like wearing the uniform."

Thin and nimble, he wears it well. Service organizations provide their own uniforms. The government issues ammunition and rifles, usually surplus M1 Garands.

Maj. William Smith, who runs the state funeral program, said most of the funeral services in 2012 qualified for the $100 stipend, which is paid directly to the organizations, not team members. That year, the program paid out $680,000.

In the St. Louis area, 24 service organizations take part. Teams from Legion Post 162, located only three miles from Jefferson Barracks, attended 557 services in 2012, the most of any group, Smith said.

At the national cemetery, rifle teams attend most of the roughly 200 burials of veterans every month. Teams also go to about 90 services monthly at other cemeteries throughout the wider St. Louis region, said Robert George, a retired Army master sergeant who coordinates for the area.

George has high praise for the dedication and reliability of the rifle teams, whose presence he sometimes needs on short notice. George, 65, knows a bit about showing up -- he did two tours in Vietnam with the Americal Division.

"I take my hat off to these guys," said George, who works for the state. "I don't know how they manage it, with their families and doctors appointments and other things they juggle to get here. It means so much to the families they serve."

George dispatches teams to cemeteries as far away as Warrenton and Louisiana, Mo. If he can, he assigns funerals close to the homes of team members.

That's why members of the First Marine Division Association's team usually go to services at north-area cemeteries, such as Calvary Cemetery. Two members are Larry and Lonnie Morie, both former Marines who live in Ferguson. Most of their fellow members also live in the north area.

Larry Morie, 75, said he wants to give comfort and respect to the families of fellow veterans. "It's something we can give back," he said. "The families appreciate it. Little things we do, like saluting the flag, can make people smile. That's enough for us."

Morie said seven men from his association take turns filling the rifle team roster, giving him about eight assignments each week. Some members have had to drop out over the years because of declining health or energy.

"I worry sometimes that we won't find enough guys to keep going," he said. "My hope is that there always will be enough. It's worked so far."

The family of Lorin Van Horn of Goreville, Ill., in far Southern Illinois, is grateful. A team attended the service at Jefferson Barracks for Van Horn, 85, who served in the Marines just after World War II.

"When you hear those rifle shots, it's such a powerful and moving sensation," said Kay Beuligmann, his daughter. "It's what dad wanted. With all everybody has going on these days, we can't thank them enough for standing there for us."

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com