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The Honor Guard and the Rifle Salute

Discussion in 'Honor, Service and Valor' started by Biak, Dec 29, 2022.

  1. Biak

    Biak Boy from Illinois Staff Member

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    Rendering military funeral honors is one way to show the deep gratitude to those who, in times of war and peace, have faithfully defended our country. This ceremonial paying of respect is the final demonstration a grateful Nation can provide and it is our commitment to recognize the sacrifice and contributions of our Nation's veterans. By law, an honor guard detail for the burial of an eligible veteran consists of at least two members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and at least one member of the detail must be a representative from the deceased veteran's service branch. The honor detail performs a ceremony that includes the playing of taps and the folding and presentation of the American flag to the next of kin. Your funeral director can help you request military funeral honors.

    A
    list of links

    Funeral Director and Planner Resources • Military OneSource


    The three rifle volley consists of no less than three and no more than seven rifles firing three volleys in memory of the fallen. The original history comes from the Roman era that at the end of the day of battle when the field of battle was cleared, if the soldier removing the slain soldier knew the name of the soldier, then they would call his name three times into the night as a form of remembering their sacrifice.

    Typically three fired cartridges are placed into the folded flag prior to presentation to the next of kin; the cartridges signify "Duty, Honor, and Sacrifice.”

    What is the history of the three rifle volley during a military funeral? | The American Legion
     
  2. USMCPrice

    USMCPrice Idiot at Large

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    It's weird how things work at times. I just finished posting about one of my dad's brothers under another thread where we were discussing submarines. His other brother was a Marine and fought at Inchon, Seoul and Chosin Reservoir. He specifically was a machine gunner at the Hagaru-Ri perimeter where the 1st Marine Division consolidated before withdrawing south after being hit by 12 CCP/PLA divisions. The reason it is pertinent to this thread is because the division brought their dead out with them and buried them at Hungnam. Uncle Charlie played taps during ceremony. Here's a video, the burial starts at the 2:45 mark if you don't want to watch the entire clip. He's shown twice playing taps in the clip.



    There are like three famous photos of him playing taps, one was the most reproduced photo of 1950, and one takes up a 4 X 8 panel at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
    Here's one: Marine Cpl. Charles E. Price sounds "Taps" over the graves of fallen Leathernecks during memorial services Dec. 13, 1950, at the 1st Marine Division cemetery at Hungnam, Korea, following the division's break-out from the Chosin Reservoir. DoD Photo by Cpl. W.T. Wolfe, USMC. (defense.gov)

    Here's another one: This one is on Wikipedia, and I think it's the one that was published so much and is in the Marine Corps Museum. There are two that are really close to being the same shot.
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    File:Cpl. Charles Price sounds "Taps" over the graves of fallen Leathernecks during memorial services at the First Marine Division cemetery at Hungnam, following the division's heroic break-out from Chosin Reservoir HD-SN-99-03172.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

    Now his son, my cousin Steve, is a US Air Force Veteran. He was an A-10 mechanic (thought you'd like that, strange but true) and is a Desert Storm Veteran. Few people know how to bugle these days and most honor guards for funerals use a device that fits in the bugle and plays a recording. Steve knows how to bugle and volunteers to play at veteran's burials.
    The four services will provide the burial detail for active duty and retired veterans. Other veterans it's on a case-by-case basis, if they have the personnel and time they will (which means seldom) and these veterans have to rely of the American Legion, VFW, VVA, etc. to provide the honor guard. The Marine Corps is the exception, they try to accommodate all Marines. When the older son came back from Iraq the Marine Corps was trying things to reduce stateside deaths. Even though he served during the peak time for casualties, the Marine Corps was losing more Marines in the US than in the war zone. You're in Iraq one day, gunfights and IED's, constant adrenaline dumps, hop on a plane and next day you're at Camp Pendleton or Lejeune, pockets full of combat pay, in a peaceful environment. The young troops were drinking too much, driving too fast, buying crotch rockets, engaging in high-risk behavior and dying in droves. One thing they tried was after checking back in, undergoing medical, etc. they were sending them home for 30-90 days, not on leave, they were required to report daily to a reserve center for duty (so they couldn't run wild), they were observed by the I & I for signs of adjustment issues, but free in the evening and on weekends and had their family support structure on evenings and weekends. We had four stay with us, it was good times. One of the duties they picked up at the reserve center was funeral details. They did a ton of them.

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  3. Biak

    Biak Boy from Illinois Staff Member

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    Ah Ha ! Now I know (partly) where the Air Farce comments are coming from.
    Iconic picture and immense Family pride as a part of History. Salute to the entire Price Legacy !
     
  4. USMCPrice

    USMCPrice Idiot at Large

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    I'm going to avoid answering the Air Farce part out of respect for a good friend I've never met. You.

    My dad had three brothers, one was run over and killed as a child, 3 or 4 years old. The other three were extremely close. The eldest was JD, he served in the US Navy as a submariner, great uncle, we visited each other as often as possible. Did like eight years and got out. In later years treated us like a second set of his own kids. Charlie was the next son. He ran away from home to Houston, TX when he was a senior in high school. My grandmother's brother (Horace) lived there; he'd been a Marine Corps tanker in WWII (Tank Co. 9th Marines which became A Co. 3d Tank Bn, 3d MarDiv), supported some US Army units in the central Solomons, made Bougainville, Emirau, and Guam. He made Charlie finish high school, then Charlie enlisted in the Marine Corps. He and Horace are the only two "Hollywood" Marines (went to boot camp in San Diego). He was apparently hell on wheels as a young man. When they were surrounded up at the Chosin Reservoir all the papers back home predicted they'd be wiped out by the Chinese. My grandma was morose resigning herself to losing another son. One of her friends from church called her and told her she needed to go to the movies now, but not why. They used to have newsreels before the movie, and the newsreels had the evacuation at Hungnam including Charlie playing taps at the burial and was identified by name. That's how she learned he'd survived. He had two children; both joined the Air Force. Steve who did four years and was the A-10 Mechanic and Desert Storm veteran. We're very close, he dressed up like his dad and played taps at my dad's burial. Connie his sister was an Air Force logistician and a very good one. She made it a career, retired as an E-9, got a master's degree while in and walked right into a big paying DoD civilian logistician job after she left. She deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, but she'll be the first to tell you (and she does) her deployments were safe, easy living with all the perks. But she made sure the beans, bullets and fuel that kept everyone fighting were where they needed to be, when they needed to be there, and casualties were evac'ed out. I'm very proud of her. She married an Air Force EOD guy, he had multiple deployments, living conditions like the infantry, dangerous job, dude has testicles the size of basketballs, much respect.
    My grandfather was exempted from the draft in WWII because he was a machinist and welder, working for critical industry. He gave up the exemption, joining the US Navy late in 1943, because his older sons were nearing draft age and if the war drug on he couldn't live with them going to war while they stayed home. He served on an LST in the Pacific and made several landings including Okinawa. If you were a sailor, on a ship off Okinawa with all the kamikazes, you did something. My grandmother had four brothers; one was an upper-level supervisor with a textile manufacturing company and was exempt from service. The youngest, Horace was the Marine Corps tanker. The middle two served in the US Army, CV was in the 11th Armored Division, and Roy was in Co. A 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division. Roy had a bronze star with Oak Leaf cluster so he must have seen a good deal of action. None of the three would have anything to do with the brother that didn't go post-war.
    My mom's sister was married to Uncle John who'd served as a Corsair mechanic in Korea with the Marine Corps. My dad was a career Marine, pvt to Lt. Col., three tours in Vietnam, Beruit in 1957, advisor to Korean Marine Corps. I had one brother and two sisters, my brother and I served in the Marines (I served in the US Army as well), I had two sons, and they were both Marines. We do have a number of Marines but, also quite a few soldiers, sailors and airmen/women. I didn't go into my wife's side, or WWI, Span-Am War, Civil War, Indian Wars we have a bunch there as well.
     
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