Funeral Detail - 9 September 2006 First Funeral

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Published on September 13, 2006 By chiprj In Blogging

I had two funerals over the weekend but I usually wait to write about them until I have some free time at work. It helps pass the time between classes when I don't have any homework to grade.

There were two funerals on Saturday. Fortunately, they were spaced apart enough that I was able to do both and none of the other NCO's had to lose time on the weekend. The first one was a full honors but the second was just a two man funeral, so I was also able to release most of the team after the first one to enjoy the remainder of the Saturday.

We arrived at the cemetery fairly early and after a little confusion with the cemetery staff we were able to locate the grave. Initially, we were told it would be at the canopy in the veteran's section of the cemetery. About 10 minutes later, they moved the canopy to the opposite corner of the cemetery. Apparently the first word I got was wrong.

We went up to the real site and found the carriage was already loaded and parked behind a small vault. The gentleman from the funeral home said that the church service had happened separetely and today would just be the graveside service (He also told me that my fly was down and I was a little bothered that I'd presented myself to the entire funeral team but none of them had told me to XYZPDQ). He asked if we wanted to place the casket at the grave early just to have it done with and I agreed right away. I got the team dressed (we usually bring our jackets on hangers) and we moved the casket to the grave.

The man from the funeral home showed me the small printed booklet for the service. It had the order of events in it and he wanted to let me know that we would not be the last part of the service. He told me that the family had wanted us to go last, but a Masonic Lodge would be in attendance and they would go last. He told me that they would be placing an apron and a few other things on the casket and didn't think it would be good to have them put anything on top of the flag, so they had come to the decision that they would go after we folded and presented the flag.

After a short time the family and friends arrived. The pastor went over the order of events with me to make sure I would know his cue to me. The Masons also arrived and we made sure everything was in position for both of our parts.

During the military honors the rifle volleys went off very well. The area we were in was fairly small, though, so it was audible when the bolts weren't moved in sync. Also the moving of the selector switches from safe to semi and back wasn't quite right, either, and that could be heard. I don't know that anyone noticed. It's just something that sticks out to me because I know what to listen for, I guess. The flag folding went well, for the most part, but when the firing team leader tried to put the brass into the flag, two casings fell out while she was pulling her hand out. That's happened to me once before and I've always canted the flag a little down to prevent that since the first time, but I think the brass got pulled out by the glove a little. She picked the brass up and put it back in and we continued as normal.

I'd never seen a Mason Lodge at a funeral before, so I stuck around after the military honors to see what they did. The leader of the group recited a VERY long speech and they did place an apron on the casket, as well as some small cuttings from an evergreen. I'm not going to describe more than that really, but I will say this - I've always practiced my line for flag presentation. I repeat it to myself during the ceremony at least five times. But when I say it, I never rattle it off at break neck pace just to get it out. I always try to put feeling into my voice and give it meaning. I want the family to feel that I cared enough to say it, not recite it.

By the time I got back to the van, everyone was loaded up and ready to go. The mood inside was kind of somber and I soon found out that the fire team leader had let them have it for not being in sync for the loading of the weapons between volleys. While driving back, I tried to review the things that had gone well. That way they had something positive to focus on, too.

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