"Honoring a promise: National Guard performs burials for veterans," The Captial, October 29, 2001 <p>The Capital (Annapolis, MD.), October 29, 2001 <p>Copyright 2001 Capital-Gazette Communications, Inc. <br>The Capital (Annapolis, MD) <p>October 29, 2001, Monday <br>SECTION: Front; Pg. A1 <br>HEADLINE: Honoring a promise: National Guard performs burials for veterans <br>BYLINE: By SARA MARSH Staff Writer <p>Honoring a promise <p>National Guard performs burials for veterans <p>BURIAL <p>Joseph R. "Ray" Hilton was just a 19-year-old Army private when he was shot in the chest on Omaha Beach during the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. <p>When the Lothian resident and Purple Heart recipient died five years ago, his family wanted him to receive appropriate military honors at his funeral. But as a result of military cutbacks, no Army representative _ let alone an honor guard _ attended. <p>Outraged by that and dozens of similar cases, state lawmakers in 1998 unanimously approved legislation directing the Maryland National Guard to step-in in cases where the active duty armed forces can't provide military funeral honors for veterans. <p>Now, as thousands of Maryland military personnel are called upon to face an uncertain future in a new war on terrorism, state officials said the National Guard's funeral duties have taken on an even greater meaning. <p>"It has become ever more important, in light of what happened last month, to demonstrate the unity and support we have for the servicemen and women who protect our country," said Michelle Byrnie, a spokesman for Gov. Parris N. Glendening. "This is the ultimate way to show respect." <p>Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Maryland National Guard units formed to handle funeral honors for veterans have been stretched thin, covering increasing numbers of funerals _ largely for dying World War II veterans _ even as unit members are reassigned to combat terrorism. <p>For example, the honor guard unit in Salisbury has been temporarily eliminated, with its members reassigned to antiterrorism duties. <p>As a result, honor guard units in Baltimore and Greenbelt have been doing double duty on the Eastern Shore to fill the void. "It hasn't affected us so that we cannot do our job anymore," said retired Command Sgt. Maj. John Casey, deputy director of veterans affairs for the Maryland National Guard. Between Oct. 1, 1998 and Oct. 20, state honor guard units provided military honors at services for 5,856 veterans, Sgt. Maj. Casey said. Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 20, guard units provided honors at 1,915 burials _ nearly 200 per month. <p>"We're so busy right now, we're just running from pillar to post all day," Sgt. Maj. Casey said. <p>A new duty <p>Providing burial honors for veterans was not a job the National Guard sought in 1998. <p>But state lawmakers, concerned about repeated complaints from distraught relatives of veterans over the lack of funeral honors, turned to the National Guard for help. <p>Until then, it had been up to each local military installation to determine what level of support it could offer at the funerals of veterans. <p>But faced with budget cuts and military downsizing, the Military District of Washington, which has jurisdiction over military burials in Maryland, often could provide little more to a veteran's family than a service representative, a prefolded American flag and an audiocassette of "Taps." <p>That was what Ray Hilton's family was told they could expect after his death in October 1996. But when they arrived at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery in Cheltenham, no service representative was there _ just the prefolded flag and cassette. <p>Mr. Hilton's widow, Wilma, complained in a letter to Del. George W. Owings III, D-Owings, a decorated former Marine and Vietnam veteran. <p>"Had I (decided) to take Ray to Arlington (National Cemetery), he would have received the honors so many thousands of others have received," Mrs. Hilton wrote. "I believe every veteran deserves this, and it should make no difference whether it be Arlington or Cheltenham, the bullet took the same path through his chest." <p>Outraged by what he called cost-cutting decisions by a "three-piece bureaucrat who doesn't know one end of a rifle from the other," Mr. Owings began an effort that culminated with the unanimous passage in 1998 of legislation to ensure all qualified Maryland veterans could receive military honors at their funerals or burials. <p>With just a few months to get a program in place by Oct. 1, 1998, Gen. James F. Fretterd, adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard, had one goal: He wanted the four honor guard units formed to handle funeral honors to resemble the famed Old Guard. <p>The Old Guard, seen by millions of Americans, guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and handles veterans' funeral honors there. <p>"Gen. Fretterd wanted to create a unit that would resemble that as much as possible and allow Maryland families to feel that their loved ones got their final salute in a first-class fashion," said Col. Howard S. Freedlander, executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. "And we believe that's what has happened." <p>The result three years later is unique among states _ a fulltime, seven-day-a-week program, involving about 50 people, 11 vehicles and more than 60 weapons. <p>"We consider this the right and virtuous thing to do for our veterans' families," Col. Freedlander said. "The families and their loved ones are receiving a final salute from their country." With a budget of $ 932,000 for the current fiscal year, the state's cost to provide funeral honors has dropped to about $ 430 from about $ 700 per funeral when the program began, National Guard officials said. <p>Members of the units, who are paid with a combination of state and federal funds, are fulltime National Guardsmen. <p>When they are not performing at funerals, honor guard members are practicing for them, even videotaping themselves to critique their performances. <p>New honor guard unit members are on probation for 90 days. If they have not mastered the necessary skills during that period, they are reassigned. <p>"These families know the difference between a good job and a slip-shod job," Col. Freedlander said. "We wanted a first-class job." <p>Serving veterans <p>Currently, there are about 496,000 military veterans in Maryland, a large number of whom are veterans of World War II. <p>Medal of Honor recipients, those killed while on active duty and military retirees are entitled to receive full honors at their funerals by an honor guard of eight to 14 people. <p>Smaller honor guards of no fewer than three people handle duties at funerals for all other veterans, said retired Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Harry A. Capaldi, director of the Office of Veterans Affairs. <p>The National Guard's units provide honors for veterans at all public and private cemeteries in Maryland, including at all five state veterans cemeteries and at the three national ones. There is a state veterans cemetery in Crownsville and the National Cemetery in Annapolis. <p>Last year, Congress approved legislation that requires the Department of Defense to provide at least two active-duty, National Guard or reserve service members to fold and present an American flag to survivors at a veteran's funeral. <p>Despite that move, the National Guard continues to provide funeral honors for veterans of most of the military branches. The Marine Corps still handles funeral honors for its veterans, Command Chief Master Sgt. Capaldi said. <p>The National Guard's units are busy _ so busy that on some days, honor guard units stationed around the state perform duties at more than a dozen burials, often on as little as an hour's notice. <p>A final farewell <p>The men and women who make up the National Guard's honor guard units take their jobs seriously, yet despite the solemn nature of the work, they say they enjoy it. <p>"It was something that I wanted to do," said Maryland National Guard Spc. Kevin R. Brown of Greenbelt, who along with Pfc. Robert L. Walters of Adelphi and Pfc. Kirk A. Hart of Washington make up the minimum three-man team that regularly provides funeral honors for veterans at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery in Crownsville. <p>"It's also an honor to provide honors for veterans who have served our country because one day we'll pass away and someone will do it for us," Spc. Brown said. <p>The men, based at the Greenbelt armory, arrive a minimum of an hour before every funeral at which they perform honors, complete with extra American flags in case a funeral director has forgotten one. <p>Before a service, they run through the motions involved, double-checking everything. <p>"The mental part of it is hard," Pfc. Walters said. "We have to present the flag to the wives. You can see it in her eyes _ she's missing a piece of herself." <p>But family members _ in letter after letter to the governor and National Guard leaders _ movingly thank officials for the presence of the honor guards. <p>"The honors meant a great deal to me and my family," wrote Odenton resident Elizabeth R. Slayton in an August 1999 letter to the governor and the National Guard. <p>Her husband, Harold, was a retired Army master sergeant who "loved being in the military," she said. Because her husband retired from the Army, a full honor guard was dispatched to his July 1999 burial. <p>"It was wonderful _ very emotional," Mrs. Slayton said recently. "It just meant a huge amount to me." <p>Bob Kalas, owner of the George P. Kalas Funeral Home, said while many local Navy families want Navy personnel to provide military honors for veterans at their burials, the National Guard is providing an important benefit. P<p>atrick J. Arnold Sr. of Hardesty Funeral Home said he has seen a major improvement in the handling of funeral honors for veterans since the National Guard launched its program. <p>"Four or five years ago, there were many times you were not able to get anyone" from the armed forces to attend a veteran's burial, he said. "With the National Guard taking it over, it has alleviated that problem." <p>Lawmakers and state veterans affairs officials also said they are pleased with the National Guard program, noting that complaints about funeral honors for veterans have disappeared. <p>"I have not heard any complaints since that (law) was enacted," said state Sen. John C. Astle, a decorated former Marine and Vietnam veteran. <p>"We ask a lot of those men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America," the Annapolis Democrat said. "When the time comes for them to be laid to rest, I think they should have (those honors). I think the nation owes that to them."