Funeral Detail - 24 Oct 2006

Published on October 26, 2006 By chiprj In Blogging

I was asked on Monday if I could do the Tuesday funeral services and since I had nothing going on, I said yes. I was told that the firing team leader had all the phone numbers and would contact the team to make sure they were at the meeting place on time Tuesday morning. The funeral was in Gonzales, CA, which is about 45 minutes away, so I wanted to meet about two hours before our arrival time, just to make sure we had plenty of time to draw the rifles and practice a few times before the service.

We met on Tuesday morning and did get a bit of a slow start. It was partly my own fault for leaving the google driving directions on my printer in the office, but we were on the road by 0900, which was really my planned departure time anyways. The firing team leader was driving and she offered to drive a slightly alternate route to highway 101. Since there are about half a dozen ways to get over to 101 from Monterey, I told her to take the route she was comfortable with. HAHA! We ended up going a way I've never been and there was one point where I thought about asking if the road we were on would eventually meet up with 101. But I sat patiently and didn't say anything. From what I could tell, we were headed in the right direction, it just seemed to take forever to get there. It ended up being perfect, as we met up with 101 and got on the highway just one exit north of where we needed to be.

We got to the church about 20 minutes before the mass started. It was a Catholic service and we had initially been asked to arrive about halfway through the mass. They told us that they didn't need for us to be in the church at all and that at the end of the service, they would bring the casket out to a courtyard and after the friends and family came out, we'd perform military honors there. By getting there early, though, I was able to get a look at everything without interrupting anything. I was able to talk with the funeral director and find out exactly how things would go and I also got to meet some of the family, including the widow.

This funeral was yet another episode in the "They all run the same general way, but there is always something unique" style of funerals. In this case, we were asked to serve as pall bearers but kind of backwards to how we normally do it. Usually, for a graveside service, we will serve as pall bearers from the carriage to the graveside. And occasionally, we've been asked to serve as pall bearers from the church to the carriage and again at graveside. But in this case, we would not be at graveside because that service wasn't taking place after the church mass. So, we were asked to serve as pallbearers to the courtyard and then again after all military honors were complete, we were asked to place the casket in the carriage.

After making all these arrangments and getting a good look at the courtyard, I went back to the van and explained everything to the team. I then let them relax in the van's AC for a while. Near the end of the service, we moved to the courtyard and placed the rifles on line. I had the bugler stand by them to make sure nothing happened to them and then moved the team to the base of the stairs of the church.

At the end of the mass, I went into the entry area of the church and waited as the wheeled the casket to the doors. I found the flag on a table and got it ready to be draped over the casket. The funeral director removed the shroud from the casket and we draped the flag. He then pushed it out the last little bit and the firing team came up the stairs and carried it down to the courtyard where the gurney was placed under it again. I stood at the head of the casket and while the team moved back to the rifles, the friends and family came out and grouped on both sides of the casket. Once everyone was out and ready, I gave a signal to the firing team leader and saluted.

After the rifle salute and Taps, the team moved back to the casket and started to fold the flag. As I watched, I was able to see that they were not folding the flag tight enough and that they would not have enough material at the end to tuck the last fold in. Instead of watching them struggle and possibly unfold the flag most of the way and refold it in front of the family, I marched around to the foot of the casket and had them unfold it two folds and do a big tuck with the remaining material. I then marched back to the head of the casket and waited for it to be passed up to me. I presented the flag to the widow and moved back to the head of the casket. I watched as the team picked up the casket again and then moved to the rear of the carriage to open the door and make sure they'd be able to slide it in. I moved out of the way and let them put the casket in the carriage and I saluted one more time.

Once the team was out of the way and heading back to their rifles, I asked the funeral director if he thought I would have enough time to take the flag back to the van and case it for the family. He said I should have the time, so I asked the widow if she would let me put the flag in a case for her real quick. I went back to the van and had the bugler hold the end of the flag while I refolded it real quick and tightly. I replaced the three shells, cased it, and then went back around to the front of the church to return the flag to the widow. On the ride back, I had another talk with the folders about the importance of keeping the flag folds tight so we wouldn't have this problem again.

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