SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2017
5 B
M ILITARY H ERITAGE C HRONICLES —
The color of the Guard
B Y C AL A PPLEBEE
Special to the Siuslaw News
W
hile I value and
enjoy the relation-
ship with the various
veteran
organizations
in
Florence as well as several
individual veterans, since I
myself am not a veteran I don’t
always know or understand
appropriate protocol when it
comes to military traditions.
Such was the case recently
when asked to facilitate the
Posting of Colors at the memo-
rial service for a local elected
official who was not a veteran
of military service.
Some involved in the process
felt it was inappropriate, but the
Florence VFW Post 3232 Color
Guard honored the request and
performed the ceremony.
Since I was already confused
as to Color Guard vs. Honor
Guard, I thought it would be a
perfect topic to explore in a
Chronicles edition.
After conducting online
research including the USAF
Honor Guard Manual and VFW
National Headquarters, as well
as reaching out to our local
Veteran Service Organizations
(VSOs) and U.S. Coast Guard,
I have a better grasp on the tra-
dition.
An Honor Guard is basically
a ceremonial unit that is often
associated with military tradi-
tion, although some larger fire
and law enforcement agencies
maintain an Honor Guard as
well. While each branch of the
military has its own official
ceremonial unit, many VSOs
such as American Legion and
VFW also have a unit that pro-
vides the ceremonial duties as
well. The United States isn’t
the only nation to utilize Honor
Guard units for various cere-
monies, and Color Guard duties
may also be used by education-
al institutions of various levels
in conjunction with their
marching bands.
According to VFW National
Headquarters, Honor Guard
and Color Guard are basically
synonymous with similar pro-
tocols for each, although the
Honor Guard is more appropri-
ate for funerals and escorting
deceased military members,
whereas Color Guard is more
appropriate for simply posting
of colors at a variety of cere-
monies, either public or private.
They have no restriction for
posting of colors at the funeral
of local elected officials and
leave the decision up to the
local post. Similarly, the USAF
Honor Guard Manual includes
language in its “Background”
section 4.1.1 indicating “distin-
guished governmental … offi-
cials” may be included as
appropriate.
While locally we may only
witness the posting of colors at
events and ceremonies or the
occasional funeral honors for
fallen comrades, other duties
may include detachments for
visiting heads of state or guard-
ing national monuments such
as
Arlington
National
Cemetery’s Tomb of the
Unknowns, guarded by mem-
bers of the U.S. 3rd Infantry
Regiment.
A Color Guard unit is con-
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ell, another summer has quick-
ly disappeared as fleeting rays
of sunshine diminish daily.
Recollections of
cold rainy days
are
filtering
through
our
minds as early
morning chills
solicit warmer
clothing during
ever-increasing
brisk mornings.
True thoughts:
“It’s just too
B Y P ETE “B OA ”
darn soon for the
W ARREN
warm tempera-
Recruitment &
tures and blue
Retention
Coordinator for SVFR skies to abandon
us!”
The season unfairly teases us and never
sidered to include two honor
guards, two flag bearers and a
Sergeant-at-arms who dictates
the orders during the ceremony.
One protocol I found intrigu-
ing is that it is not mandatory to
formally retire the colors just
because they have been posted,
particularly if they were infor-
mally posted.
In a small community such
as ours we are blessed to have
two military organizations
which provide Honor Guard
and Color Guard ceremonies.
The USCG Station Siuslaw
River honors such requests pro-
vided there is no conflict with
its schedule.
They have provided this tra-
dition for numerous parades
and other events that I have
attended here over the years.
Likewise, Florence Veterans
of Foreign Wars Post 3232 also
provides Honor Guard or Color
Guard ceremonies and not just
stays long enough to satisfy our longing
for a longer recovery from the doldrums
— which is directly related to our almost
strikingly white legs.
Days of satisfying warmth are still
upon us, but we know — yes, we know —
what’s in store just around the corner.
The change in the season has brought
forth another Firefighter Entry-Level
Academy. In a couple of days, you’ll see
new firefighters in-training at various
locations in Florence.
This academy is special as we will have
representatives from four fire depart-
ments. Siuslaw, of course, but we also
have
firefighters-in-training
from
Mapleton, Swisshome and Deadwood fire
departments taking part in the academy.
Not only have we been training recently
with our sister departments, but now our
new firefighters are jointly learning entry-
level firefighting together.
There are eight excited recruits in this
month’s class. They’ve spent many hours
studying pre-academy material: building
construction types, fire hoses, types of
locally.
For the last three years they
have been designated as the
VFW’s official state Color
Guard as well.
So even after their original
military service to our nation,
these veterans are still provid-
ing services to our community.
While I feel I now have a
better understanding of Honor
Guard and Color Guard units
and ceremonies which are so
steeped in military tradition,
maybe I can next sort out 21-
gun salute vs. three-rifle volley
in later editions.
To learn more about military
heritage in general, visit the
Oregon Coast Military Heritage
Museum Thursday through
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at
2145 Kingwood St. in
Florence, or visit www.oregon
coastmilitarymuseum.com.
water streams and foams, ventilation tech-
niques, water supply types, fire behavior
and many other pre-academy studies.
Once the academy starts, cadets will
apply what they’ve learned from the
online courses to the practical side of fire-
fighting. The recruits will start develop-
ing repetitive habits while burning those
habits into their muscle memory by solid-
ifying what they are learning with hands-
on training.
This class will finalize their training
with a live burn on the last day of training.
As the season changes with leaves
falling and drops of rain increasingly
pattering our roofs, you can be assured not
only Siuslaw Valley will have more able-
bodied recruits in the area, but also our
neighbors to the east.
Pete “Boa” Warren can be contacted at
541-997-3212, or the main SVFR station,
2625 Highway 101, or email Boa@
svfr.org.
In
Honor
of All
Veterans
The staff at the Siuslaw News LV preparing to publish the annual
Veterans Day publication, which is a special supplement to the newspaper
that is devoted to all military veterans who currently are Florence-area
residents or have a connection to this area.
If you are interested in sharing your military background information in
the annual tribute publication, or in updating information that we have pub-
lished previously, please complete this form and submit it to the Siuslaw
News. Service photographs are also welcome.
Submit forms and photos by email to QKLFNVRQ@thesiuslawnews.com, by
regular mail to Siuslaw News, Attn: 1HG +LFNVRQ, P.O. Box 10,
Florence, OR 97439; or drop off materials at the Siuslaw News office in
Old Town,148 Maple St.
If your profile was published in the 201 Veterans tribute and you do not
wish to make any changes to the profile, there is no need to resubmit this
form or your military information.
Please be sure that all materials are carefully labeled with your name and
phone number and are submitted by October 2, 201.
Thank you for participating in this project to remember and honor our
veterans.
Name:____________________________________________________________________________
Contact Phone Number:______________________________________________________________
Branch of S ervice: __________________________________________________________________
Rank Achieved (optional):____________________________________________________________
Dates S erved: ______________________________________________________________________
Where did you serve?________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Special Information (E.G., POW):______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Has your veterans information been published previously in the Siuslaw News Veterans Publication?
YES
NO
Do we have your military photo(s) on file? YES
NO
(Note: If you have submitted photos in the past, we will still have them on file.)