MINNEAPOLIS — The bus stops on the cemetery path and the silver-haired men file out, sober-faced and silent amid a sea of white marble tombstones. Some carry rifles, some flags, a few hold bugles. They've all come to say goodbye — to a stranger.
This is their eighth funeral of the day. They have five more to go.
The men are members of a special fraternity of veterans. Two generations. Three wars. Survivors of places such as Khe Sanh, Chu Lai, Tokyo Bay, the Chosin Reservoir. Recipients of Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars. Now all together, offering a final salute to those who, like them, served long ago.
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- Rifle squad honors vets with 57,000 goodbyes
Updated 75 minutes ago 11/11/2010 1:51:06 PM +00:00 Every weekday, 12 months a year, in knee-deep snow and blistering heat, the men of the Fort Snelling Memorial Rifle Squad are out in force, paying tribute to veterans being laid to rest. Full story
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Their gait may be slower than it once was, their shoulders a bit more stooped, their eyesight not quite as sharp, but every weekday, 12 months a year, in knee-deep snow and blistering heat, the men of the Fort Snelling Memorial Rifle Squad are out in force and in formation, paying tribute to veterans being laid to rest.
The volunteer squad travels in its own bus across the vast Fort Snelling National Cemetery, conducting full military honors: The call to arms. The white-gloved salute. Three rounds of rifle shots. The mournful wail of two bugles. The folding of the flag. A few words of thanks to the family. Then one final salute.
It's a sad ceremony, but a celebration, too.
"When you fire those three volleys and play Taps, that's a signal to somebody upstairs that someone special — a veteran — is on the way there," says Ted Nemzek, an 82-year-old squad member and Korean War vet whose Bronze Star hangs jauntily from his cap. "It's a wonderful way to say goodbye. It's meaningful."
He should know. He and the squad have said goodbye more than 57,000 times.
A squad was born
It began with a man named George Weiss Jr. more than 30 years ago when a friend, a World War II fighter pilot, died and some buddies at the VFW post in the tiny town of Mendota asked him to gather a rifle squad for the proper military send-off.
Easier said than done.
Weiss had to snag a local high school kid to play the bugle and call in some favors to gather a six-man team. That got him thinking. There had to be others who'd need the tribute. So he began making the rounds to VFW and American Legion halls, pitching the idea.
A squad was born. It has been going ever since.
Story: Last U.S. WWI veteran seeks DC memorial to that warWeiss, now 82, is the only original survivor, a wiry great-grandfather with a hankering for Harleys (he drove one until he was in his 70s) and a razor-sharp memory of being 17 and so eager to be a part of World War II that he dropped out of high school and joined the Marines. He wound up in China in 1945.
The military, as it turned out, has served as bookends in his life. He took off his Marine uniform as a young man, had a long career at the Ford Motor Co., then in 1979, found himself saluting once more at the squad's first funeral. At 50, he was the youngest member.
He's still at it every Friday, donning the squad's official outfit — a black jacket with a patch that features the Veterans Affairs eagle emblem, black shoes and tie, white shirt with collar pins and overseas cap. The 128-member squad is divided into five groups; each man volunteers on a designated weekday.
Weiss, who has attended thousands of funerals, says the goodbyes are especially poignant for those who've outlived family and have few or no mourners. That's most common for World War II vets; on average, 737 die each day across the country, according to the VA.
"Let me put it this way," Weiss says, "last Friday, we had 15 or 16 funerals. Three of them had just one car. One had just one person. Here's someone who had spent time in the military and had protected his country and he had just one mourner. Well, he had 23 members of our squad out there. I know this sounds melodramatic ... but he did not go out alone."
"I don't know if that makes sense to you," he says, "but it does to me."
It does, too, to President Barack Obama.
Invitation to the White House
Last summer, Weiss' contribution earned him an invitation to the White House, where Obama honored him and a dozen others with the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second-highest honor for civilians.
Weiss savors the memory of that August day and the ego boost of having the president quote and praise him. "I had to make sure my head wasn't too big for my shoulders," he says, his blue eyes sparkling.
He had a plan. He would salute the president when he received his medal. "I asked the Marine captain (if it would be OK) and ... and he said he IS the commander in chief," Weiss recalls.
Weiss did just that, raising his hand in a crisp salute, and was thrilled when Obama returned it and made the day even more special with a "way to go" atta boy.
The squad is now an institution at Fort Snelling, where more than 192,000 veterans (men and women) and their families from as far back as the Civil War are buried. About 20 funerals are held daily.
Squad members receive a schedule of funerals daily, but usually know nothing about the person beyond the branch of service, unless someone has clipped out a newspaper obituary. On rare occasions, there's someone of special distinction, such as one of the Marines who planted the flag at Iwo Jima.
There are other rifle squads across the country, but the Fort Snelling group is believed to be the only all-volunteer one with such a lengthy record of continuous service. It has presided at more than 57,000 funerals, never missing one because of weather.
Virtually everyone in the group is retired; members have held almost every kind of job: postmaster, engineer, teacher, firefighter, welder, autoworker, printer, VA hospital director, even the state's former veterans affairs commissioner.
They span all military branches and more than 30 years in age. Among the most senior is Dick O'Toole, 87, who refused to let a heart defect and a warning at the enlistment office — "don't come back even if there's an invasion" — stop him. He found a home in the Merchant Marine during World War II. The 'baby' is Tim Gabrio, 59, a ruddy-faced Navy vet who helped rescue 102 downed pilots in Vietnam. He's now disabled, with a leg brace — the effects of exposure to Agent Orange.
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