Pt 1 The end
- Don Collins
o Background about Don Collins, the coroner of Scottsburg
o The author gives an account of Collins digging the grave for the solider who is to be buried the next day
- Guards from Fort Knox practice their nine-gun salute for the officer that it is going to be buried
o There is an account of most of the guards, accompanied by their names
o The author goes into detail as to what they do before the funeral starts
- The older Collins drives the funeral hearse to the grave site
o Those who know the family, those in the military, and civilian motorcyclists surround the grave site
- The soldiers from Fort Knox lower the casket into the burial vault
o The author then goes on to name the vault company and describe it
- The reverend speaks, bagpipers play, and three songs are played over the loudspeaker – including “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails
- Seven of the soldiers fire three volleys
o It sounds like a single sound
o News cameras are on them
- Leatherbee is a genuine bugler
o He plays “Taps” and the author describes different variations of the song
o He doesn’t close his eyes so emotion is conveyed
- After “Taps” the flag is folded by the men who lowered the casket
o The author describes the folding of the flag and the emotions of the men folding it – their hands are shaking
- Once the flag passes inspection it’s given to an older women, who is assumed to be the soldiers mother
o The general is standing next to her
- The general has seen too many funerals
- The general comments on the mannerisms of the soldier’s wife, Missie, at the funeral
- The author describes the myth of the flag folding
- The funeral ends
o The general and guards fly back
o Everyone leaves
o The Collins’ start to fill in the grave
- The section ends with the sergeant’s name and his birth and death year
Pt 2
- This part of the story focus’s on the soldier’s mother
o She recounts his baptism and happy times she had with him in this church
o The mother smokes today for the first time in a long time
o She recounts how her brother and first husband died
- Her other children came home for the funeral
o The soldier’s older brother who is also in the army and his sister
o Her brother and sister also come to attend their nephew’s funeral
- People in the town come to the funeral as well
o Some because it was the mayor’s nephew and others because they knew the mother
- The author observes the faces of the people sitting in the church
o Their love for the solider radiates off of them
Pt 3
- The soldier has been laying in the Collins funeral for sometime until his funeral
o He was escorted from the airport by a pair of brothers
o The brothers were greeted by hundreds of people with flags
- This was the longest and biggest procession the guards had ever seen
o The author then explains what the Patriot Guard is and why it formed
- The soldier was pulled by a hearse driven by the older Collins and his mother followed behind with her brother
- The aunt remarks the patriotism of the people they passed
- The author tells an anecdote about where the soldier used to work
- At the end of the procession was the soldier’s best friend
o They were outcasts in school
o The soldier was supposed to be in his wedding
o They rode skateboards together
o He set up the soldier with his wife, Missie
- The friend liked to paint
o He designed the soldier’s tombstone
- Flags lined the interstate and truck radios chimed in to welcome him home
- The soldier took a while to complete high school, hit a rough patch, and was kicked out of the house at one point
o He went to live with his sister in Florida
o Leaving brought him back home and he turned his life around
- The soldier had a family and got a job
o The job wasn’t cutting it and he decided to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and join the army
- Army life suited him
o He started in Alaska
- The last time the mother saw her son was Christmas 2006
o She drove him to the airport in Louisville
- Now the soldier was coming home with a full procession filled with people who had known him his whole life
o The soldier was dressed in his finery in the casket
o He was whole enough for open viewing
- The family had a hard time seeing him and believing it was him because he was gone so long
o His brother put his Mason ring on his brother, with his hands shaking as he did so
Pt 4
- The army Chaplin needed a quiet place before the service
o He came with the guard
o The author explains the color-coding system of soldiers and how they die
- The Chaplin’s calling came to him in Bosnia
o Today hit home because he had a family
- When the hearse arrived he debriefed the family on what they would see
o The wood caskets are heavier than metal but all soldiers are dressed the same underneath
o The weight of caskets gives some indication of how the person died
- People were looking for distractions as to not look at the casket
- The Chaplin looked at the solder’s family and thought of his
o He finished the reading with the 46th psalm
- The wife folded her arms over the flag and wept
o The mother held onto her grandchildren
o The Chaplin cried as well
- The guards carried the casket back to the hearse
- The brothers who escorted the soldier from the airport led the procession
o Two guards in the back of the van would soon find themselves in Iraq
Official Pt 2: Dover Air force Base
- The Pentagon called Greene
o His business had been in the auto industry
- Until 2005 soldiers had been sent home on commercial planes
o That changed when a family started a campaign as to how the military would be flown home and met
- High profile planes were needed to transport mutilated bodies home
- Greene’s company designed spaces for caskets in planes
o The pilots were low-profile – one of the pilots said you just have to fly
o There are some states that had more casualties than others while some have had none
- This soldier’s flight home was their first to Indiana
- They’ve noticed that small towns have the highest turnouts
o Sometimes parents don’t show and sometimes the honor guard doesn’t either
- When they landed in Indiana someone from the National Guard makes sure the body matches the name and hasn’t been damaged during the flight
o The family meets the casket in the hanger
o Sometimes the pilots go back in the plane because they cant handle the family’s reactions
- Some soldiers stick out more in their minds than others
Pt. 3
- Larsen entered the Port Mortuary in the Air Force in Delaware
- There’s only a 12 person permanent staff there
- It’s the worlds largest mortuary
- It has records of every man and woman KIA to date
- The soldier spent five days there before returning home
o His body was scanned for bombs
- The soldier was cleaned, his body parts tagged and cataloged, and placed back into the body bag to head home
o There were no personal effects found on his body
o Two rooms in the building deal with their personal effects
- Chaplains are there every day
- The soldiers can only be truly identified once they arrive
o Then there’s an autopsy
o The soldier suffered traumatic injuries consistent with explosives – his remains were incomplete
o Wounds are documented and recorded in the database
o Body fluids are replaced in order to keep from decaying
- The body is put together best for “view ability”
o Soldiers help their comrades look this way
o It’s an intimate, hands on process
- The solders are dressed in their best and the family chooses a wood or metal casket
- Sometimes when prepping the bodies extra steps are taken to show care – i.e. shining buttons
- The flags are last
o They are creaseless and longer than a standard one
Pt. 4
- The Major General must attend every funeral of a soldier KIA and greet every plane landing on Dover
- The soldiers have a long way home before they make it back to the states
- Honor guards from every major military branch greet the planes with lists of the dead
- They roll out a red carpet for those returning home
o Sometimes it’s one case, sometimes its more
o Each case is moved one at a time and given a three second salute
- Sometimes people are rendered speechless
o A prayer is said for those lost
- It doesn’t matter which branch carries who
Official Pt. 3
- A staff sergeant looks at the body of his friend at his feet in the helicopter
- The author describes the sergeant and tells how the two met
- A medivac was called for the soldier but he was deemed KIA
- The staff sergeant knew it was the soldier based off the radio code
o He took off the headphones because he didn’t want to hear the rest
o Helicopters landed and brought the soldier toward the truck
- The soldier was looked at for distinguishing features
o The solider would be on his way to Kuwait 6 hours later
Pt. 4
- The soldier’s older brother visited him the week before his death
o They took pictures together
o He lost of his mother’s reaction
o He called his unlace at home first
- The brother then made sure his aunt with was his mother
- Candidate wives gather round to see if they become widows
- They knew something was wrong
o The wife sent her kids next door to play
- The aunt was with the mother when she opened the door to the soldiers
- Once the mother found out the news spread through the town quickly
- The wife found out and dropped the phone
- Bags were packed and people from times of the past gathered together again
Pt. 5
- The author describes what happened to the soldier when he died
- He also described the man driving the truck and the other men in the vehicle
- The soldier had just talked to his family
o He heard an explosion while talking to them
- The author describes how the army named areas of Bhagdad