Honor guard provides final farewell to local veterans, despite shrinking numbers
From left, Richard Williams, Connie Jamison, Gene Conrad and Tony Bucci of Brentwood VFW Post 1810 Military Funeral Honor Guard, performed their duties at the Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Cecil Township for a recent funeral.
Members of the James L. Farrell American Legion Post 330 honor guard appear at veterans’ funerals, giving a final send-off to men and women who served. From left are Marion White (now deceased), Charles King, Harry Tharp, James Seargeant, Arleigh Wood, Robert Escott, Thomas Boyd, Roy Arbogast, Gene Miller (bugler), Zane W. Mitchell, George Barnhart and Danny Debolt.
Albert Cwiklinski
Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 191 in Canonsburg participate in funerals for veterans. Shown in this photo are, front row, from left, John Dellorso, Bob Terkay (now deceased), Mike Zaricki, Rod Petras, Edgar Chevarine, Ken Ward, Jay Golinski, Rich Morflak, Charles Kacvinsky, Albert Cwiklinski (now deceased) and Joe Rolek, and back row, from left, Mike Pozonsky, Ed Snarey, John Lloyd, Roy Fredericks (now deceased), Barry Andrews, Bob Spittka, Dan Liebert, Rich Golden, Alex Nakoneczny and Commander Chuck Moyar.
Rain or shine, Albert Cwiklinski attended hundreds of military funerals in Washington County over the years as a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 191 Honor Guard.
When Cwiklinski passed away on Sept. 1 at the age of 90, the members of the honor guard gave him the final send-off to which all honorably discharged veterans are entitled: a 21-gun salute, the playing of “Taps”, and an American flag that is folded and presented to the family.
Cwiklinski, who flew on 35 combat missions with the U.S. Army Air Corps, 8th Air Force, during World War II as a flight engineer, requested to be buried in his honor guard uniform.
“The honor guard was so important to him,” said Cwiklinski’s daughter, Mary Jane Vasko of Eighty Four. “He would go whenever they asked. It was so important to him that veterans be recognized for their service when they passed.”
There was a time when American Legion Post 902 of Houston and VFW Post 191 of Canonsburg responded as individual organizations to the call for military funeral rites.
But nationwide, fewer veterans are volunteering for honor guard duty, so several years ago, the two units combined. Post 902 has since dropped out, and some members from that post joined the Post 191 Honor Guard and help to ensure the honor guard maintains adequate attendance for all veteran funerals.
“It’s hard. I’m losing a lot of honor guards,” said Charles “Chuck” Moyar, a Vietnam veteran and commander of Post 191’s honor guard.
“The World War II veterans are in their 80s and 90s and they’re getting scarce. I’ve got a few Vietnam vets, including myself, in our upper 60s, and there are fewer Korean War vets around.”
He said that younger veterans who served in Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq often can’t participate in funeral services because they are at work when most services are held and have family commitments.
Moyar, of Canonsburg, earned two Purple Hearts during his service in Vietnam and from 1967 to 1970 and was a member of the “Walking Dead,” the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, which lost 36 of its 42 members during one battle in 1967.
He is also the only second-generation honor guard in the post. Moyar’s father, Charles M., joined when the honor guard was chartered.
Moyar said he currently has 22 members, but just 14 are active (the other eight, mostly World War II veterans, have health issues which prevent them from participating in funeral services).
So far this year, the group has attended more than 80 funerals at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies and other local cemeteries. On average, the Post 191 Honor Guard participates in four funerals a month, said Moyar.
Ronald M. Hestdalen, director of the national cemetery, said the honor guards provide a valuable service.
“From my perspective, providing military honors for our veterans who have served and sacrificed is one of the most important things we can do for our veterans. It provides the closing to a life of sacrifice and service that the veterans recognize.” said Hestdalen.
Noting the Department of Defense is required to provide a two-person detail to a veteran’s funeral upon a family’s request, Hestdalen said, “There’s never been a case here where someone who wanted military honors hasn’t been able to get them … but in the near future, we might have difficulty providing full military honors that honor guard units provide.”
Ed Snarey, 89, who was a howitzer mechanic in the U.S. Army during World War II, calls himself the “old-timer” of the group. He joined the VFW before he was discharged from the military in 1945, and he signed up for the honor guard in 1951. He serves as chaplain for the group.
“It’s something that I felt I should do and still feel that I should do,” said Snarey, formerly of Canonsburg and now of Bridgeville. “If they call me and tell me there’s a military funeral, I go. We’ve gone when it’s snowing and there’s been a wind chill below zero and it feels like a tornado’s blowing through, we’ve stood through pouring rain, in sweltering heat. We try to give the deceased as proper a military funeral as possible, and I think we do a pretty decent job.”
In Greene County, the American Legion James Farrell Post 330 Honor Guard has been participating in veterans’ funeral service for 18 years.
Michelle Deems, adjutant for the Waynesburg post, said the honor guard is comprised of 17 members who have served in World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf.
“It’s hard to get new members,” said Deems, who served with the U.S. Navy during the Persian Gulf War. She is the only female in the honor guard. “Sometimes we have to supplement from other posts, but we make do.”
Since it was formed in 2003, the Greene County honor guard has participated in 398 funerals.
In the past two years, Deems said, the honor guard has participated in the funerals of 41 Greene County veterans.
The honor guard detail consists of a commander, a sergeant-at-arms, a chaplain, seven riflemen, two flag bearers and a bugler, dressed in full regalia.
“Many of these veterans feel this is the highest respect they can provide for their fellow men and women in the service,” said Deems, who noted that funeral home directors are a valuable resource in assisting veterans’ families during funeral preparations.
Honor guard members must purchase their own uniforms, and the guns, M1s, are provided by the U.S. Army.
The volunteers receive no compensation for their participation,
Barry Andrews of Washington, a Vietnam veteran, had no intention of joining a veterans’ organization or serving with the Post 191 Honor Guard when he returned from his service.
“I just wanted to get on with my life. But when I got older, I realized that honoring my comrades with the very small token of appreciation on the firing squad, playing taps or presenting the colors is something I needed to do,” said Andrews. “None of us do it for our own self-serving interests. We ride to funerals in our post van full of vim and vigor. But, after we perform our duty, on the way back to the post, it’s as if the finality of our duty, our responsibility, has set in with each one of us, because the silence is literally deafening. It’s an honor, a privilege, to serve our brothers. I don’t think many folks are aware of that.”