Former U.S. Marines from the Greeley area call out “rolling” as they line up along a street for a burial service at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.
In a row of six, seven or eight, the men are dressed in black pants, white shirts and a red, rectangular hat known as a garrison cap. They are honor guard members in a veterans service organization known as the Union Colony Marines Detachment 1093, preparing a rifle salute for an honorably discharged veteran prior to burial at Fort Logan, the resting place of more than 160,000 veterans and eligible family members.
Saying “rolling” — a reference to the approaching vehicles — is their cue to get ready for the burial service, which is one of many the honor guard will participate in throughout the day. There is no noise in the cemetery. Not a sound as the vehicles carry family, friends and the remains of the veteran drive up to a shelter where the brief but solemn service will be held. The riflemen stood on an adjacent road about 60 feet away.
Once or twice each month, the Union Colony honor guard travels to Fort Logan to render honors at veterans services. Up to 10 men, most in their 70s and 80s, often spend the day at Fort Logan for the tributes. They have participated in as many as a dozen burial services at the cemetery and traveled as far as Colorado Springs for others. The majority of their work comes at services in the Greeley area.
“We come out because we want to,” said Joe Meilinger, 63, commandant of the detachment and honor guard member. “We don’t care what branch they were in. We all fought for the same thing.”
Meilinger called out commands to the riflemen on May 15 at Fort Logan. He received word from another honor guard member, who was under the shelter with the veterans’ family and friends. The honor guard generally has little interaction with the veterans’ family or friends during the service. They receive a handshake from time to time, a “thank you” as a vehicle drives by or a donation. One of the honor guard members presents the veterans’ representatives with a medallion coin and the dispensed blank cartridges from the three-round rifle salute.
The power of taps
Greeley resident Mike LeBrun recently left the honor guard after seven years. He was the sergeant for six of those years, meaning he commanded the riflemen. LeBrun estimates he attended more than 600 services. He said the honor guard averaged more than 140 services a year from 2023 into this year and its work is a strong source of pride. LeBrun joined the Union Colony detachment about 10 years ago after retiring from the oil and gas business.
“Every time I hear taps, itap a lump in my throat,” LeBrun said. “I think itap a personal thing for me. Itap sad and honorable.”
For LeBrun, the power of taps dates back almost 60 years to his first funeral as a Marine. LeBrun served four years during the Vietnam era from 1964-68. He was stationed in North Carolina and Virginia. In 1967, he went to South Carolina with an honor guard for the funeral of a Black Marine killed in Vietnam.
The details of the Marine’s funeral remains a vivid memory, while the specifics of the veterans’ services in the past six years aren’t as clear. There have been so many services here.
“I remember crying and hearing taps and seeing hundreds of Black people together, burying this young Marine and how miserable I was for that community and what they were going through,” LeBrun said. “Itap stuck with me.”
Earlier this month at Fort Logan, the Union Colony honor guard participated in five services. They went to a nearby Wendy’s for lunch with a late-morning break. Giving multiple tributes in one day never gets tiresome, according to new Marines detachment member and honor guard commander Mark Stevens of Greeley.
“Itap another one and letap go,” said Stevens, 61, who served from 1983-87. “Itap an honor.”
Stevens joined the detachment and honor guard about three months ago. He didn’t know about the detachment until someone told him about it. He looked up information and joined out of loyalty, camaraderie and “a sense of being.” Stevens also recently assumed leadership of the Marines detachmentap annual golf tournament in the fall.
“A sense of purpose,” Stevens added. “Thatap how I try to live my life.”
Memorial Day honors those killed in service
On Monday, Memorial Day will be observed in the U.S. for the 158th year. It began in 1868 as a way to honor soldiers who died in the Civil War. In 1971, the day became a federal holiday on the last Monday in May.
The oldest and most somber of the days dedicated to military-related remembrances, Memorial Day honors those killed in service of the armed forces. The Union Colony honor guard regularly participates in the Memorial Day ceremony at Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley, which begins at 9 a.m. Monday this year.
The day after visiting Fort Logan, the honor guard gathered for in Greeley. Armed Forces Day is the third Saturday in May, and honors Americans currently serving in all branches of the military.
The Union Colony honor guard goes to Fort Logan the third Friday of every month and again on the fifth Friday when applicable.
The Union Colony honor guard’s tributes are individual versions of remembrances on Veterans Day, an annual legal holiday Nov. 11.
A noble cause
The burial services usually last no more than 20 minutes, typically taking place after a church service and including a few words from at least one other honor guard member not in the rifle line. Separate from the honor guard at Fort Logan is the participation of active-duty personnel from the deceased veteran’s branch of service playing taps and presenting a U.S. flag to the veterans’ representatives, such as family or friends.
The ., a Denver-based nonprofit, also participates in some of the services. The foundation provides a slow ringing of a large bell and is optional — as is the honor guard.
The Marines detachment was founded in the early 2000s and began serving at veterans’ burial services within a couple of years. The detachment has 107 members and is part of the , a 103-year-old veterans service organization preserving traditions of the corps while serving and uniting active-duty, reservists, retired and veteran Marines and certain Navy personnel.
Of the 107 members in the Union Colony detachment, 13 are on the honor guard detail. The detachment is based at Adamson Warmuth VFW Post 6624 on State Street in Evans.
Greeley resident Clem Schuette has been with the detachment for about 23 years, and he was one of the early members of the honor guard. Schuette said a former detachment member, the late Mark Kauffman, was originally responsible for connecting the honor guard with Fort Logan. Kauffman at age 78.
The honor guard today collaborates with on its schedule at Fort Logan. All Veterans Honor Guard has provided tributes at Fort Logan since the early 1990s, according to scheduler Maury Smith.
Both organizations also communicate with funeral homes and funeral directors on services following the death of a veteran.
Smith, 86, has volunteered with All Veterans for the past 26 years. He served 23 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as a chief master sergeant — one of the highest enlisted ranks in the Air Force.
He said the All Veterans Honor Guard was formed in 1993 when the U.S. military could no longer provide personnel for departing veterans. By the early 2000s, there were six teams of veterans on the tributes, including Union Colony. The Union Colony detachmentap participation allows for breaks for the teams from the All Veterans Honor Guard.
“We serve a noble cause,” he added.
Dignified honors for veterans
Schuette, 87, served two years as a Marine in the late 1950s at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California. He is not one of the riflemen who lined up for the approaching vehicles. Schuette and sometimes another member of the honor guard are inside with the family and friends. There, they offer a prayer and a few words about the veteran.At Fort Logan last week, Schuette played both roles in the absence of the guard’s usual chaplain. Schuette in his remarks noted the veteran’s rank was not significant at burial. The years of service also did not matter. What was important was the veteran served the U.S. and honored the flag, he said.
“Every vet comes in and all the grave markers are the same,” Schuette said later. “Look at the grave markers, they’re the same. The vets are treated the same.”
The standing headstones at Fort Logan are all made of marble and the flat grave markers are granite, according to cemetery assistant director Chrissy Dixon. Fort Logan is one of the cemeteries operated by the National Cemetery Administration, which is a branch of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dixon said there are an average of 18 interments daily at Fort Logan during the summer. The interments decrease during the winter. She credited the work of the All Veterans Honor Guard and the Union Colony Marines Detachment with facilitating the burial services.
“Itap an integral part of the committal service,” Dixon said. “Itap the last dignified honor for the veteran.”
After his remarks, Schuette stepped outside to signal for the honor guard’s three-round volley for the veteran. The salute with blank cartridges is available to any honorably discharged veteran and is performed by honor guards at military and police services.
The volley origin dates to European battlefields in the 17th and 18th centuries, according to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. There was a pause in fighting to allow both sides to care for the dead and wounded. The three volleys then signaled the resumption of battle.
The three-round volley is not to be confused with a 21-gun salute. Those are fired by cannon or artillery and in the U.S. are reserved for certain dignitaries and officials.
The burial service at Fort Logan closes with taps after the rifle volley.
“I guess the easiest way I can say it is: respect for our veterans,” Schuette said of why he participates. “To honor them, to honor their service as they’re passing on. Itap just special.”
