[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 54 (Monday, April 16, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2320-S2321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       TRIBUTE TO VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS POST 4075 HONOR GUARD

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a group 
of individuals who have been working to make a difference in the lives 
of local veterans in their community for over 60 years. The honor guard 
of Frankfort, Kentucky's Veterans of Foreign Wars Office Post 4075 has 
been providing an official military funeral ceremony for local veterans 
in the central Kentucky area since the 1950s.
  Veterans K.B. Johns, Ralph Spooner, Bill Hampton, and Charlie Mauer 
founded the first VFW Post 4075 color guard over 60 years ago. The men 
worked together to increase the size of the color guard over the next 
decade into a full honor guard with 11 members: 2 flag folders, 7 
riflemen, 1 bugler, and 1 leader. The honor guard takes any and all 
requests to play at a fellow serviceman's funeral, free of charge.
  The honor guard is made up of veterans from World War II, the Vietnam 
war, the Korean war, Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi 
Freedom. They may be from different generations, but they all share the 
same respect for one another. Charlie Mauer is the only surviving 
original member of the troop; he is 85 years old.
  Mr. Mauer is joined by three other World War II veterans: Mr. Burnett 
Napier fought with the U.S. Marines in the Battle of Peleliu in the 
Pacific Theater at the age of 19. He is now 87 years old, and he is the 
recipient of the Purple Heart and the Silver Star, two of the highest 
honors awarded by the U.S. military. Mr. Charlie Hinds, who is 88 years 
old, served as a scout for GEN George Patton for 2 years. He enlisted 
in the Army at age 18. The youngest of the WWII veterans at age 84 is 
Jim Wolcott. He was stationed in Europe from 1944 to 1947.
  According to Charlie Mauer, the honor guard is ``a great bunch of 
guys.'' The men have conducted ceremonies for hundreds of funerals 
throughout the program's lifetime and expected nothing in return. They 
are driven by compassion for their fellow servicemen who have gone on 
and their families who are left behind with only the memories of their 
loved one. The men are honored to get the chance to pay tribute to 
Frankfort veterans who have passed away. When asked, all of the men say 
that they plan to stay involved in the honor guard as long as they are 
able to.
  It is inspiring to witness others who truly receive joy and 
satisfaction from helping their fellow man. The men of Frankfort's VFW 
Post 4075 honor guard will sometimes perform at as many as three 
funerals a day, all for free. These men have all been involved in 
historic battles throughout our Nation's history, and they have served 
their country valiantly. And although they have already given so much, 
they are still far from done giving back to their community, State, and 
country.
  Mr. President, at this time I ask that my fellow colleagues in the 
Senate join me in recognizing the valiant dedication to service shown 
by these brave individuals. There was recently an article published in 
the Lexington Herald-Leader that featured Frankfort's Veterans of 
Foreign Wars Office Post 4075. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 
that said article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record as follows:

           [From the Lexington Herald-Leader, Mar. 26, 2012]

      Frankfort VFW's Honor Guard Members Feel Privileged To Serve

                        (By Kayleigh Zyskowski)

       When the phone rings at the Frankfort Veterans of Foreign 
     Wars Post on Second Street, 85-year-old Charlie Mauer answers 
     it.
       On the other end is not a question about the day's soups or 
     the next bingo night, but a request for the VFW Post 4075 
     honor guard to pay final respects to a fellow veteran.
       It's a call Mauer, honor guard commander, has been 
     answering for years, and he's honored to take it.
       K.B. Johns, Ralph Spooner, Bill Hampton and Mauer the only 
     living original member founded the first VFW Post 4075 color 
     guard in the early 1950s.
       Within the next decade they were able to support a full 
     honor guard, which takes at least 11 members: two flag 
     folders, seven riflemen, one bugler and one leader.
       Four of the current members are World War II veterans, and 
     the rest served in Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm and Operation 
     Iraqi Freedom. They are from different generations, but the 
     men say they share the same respect for each other.
       ``We've got a good bunch of guys,'' Mauer said.
       Mauer, a World War II veteran, says serving the community 
     and paying tribute to Frankfort veterans is something he's 
     glad to do. And because he grew up in Frankfort, he knows 
     many of those who've died, which makes the job more important 
     to him.
       Several days after the call comes in, Mauer arrives at the 
     post ready to greet the other members and prepare the 
     equipment.
       ``We don't get paid,'' says World War II veteran Jim 
     Wolcott, ``other than a free lunch and a beer.''
       The men arrive wearing dark-blue uniforms decorated with 
     gold cords, white gloves and polished black shoes.
       They shuffle into the game room of the VFW where the rifles 
     are stored in a locked cabinet.
       After they are prepared to leave for the funeral service, 
     the group stands in the doorway teasing each other about 
     their weight and asking the kitchen crew what's for lunch.
       There's no need for practice or rehearsal; each man knows 
     his role because the group has done it so often.
       The group has attended as many as three funerals in one 
     day, Mauer says, but the number is usually several per month. 
     Over the years, they have provided services for hundreds of 
     funerals.
       The men have braved every kind of weather for funerals, and 
     this morning is chilly and rainy. Luckily, they've heard the 
     sky will clear before the service starts.
       The 11 men divide into separate vehicles and make their way 
     up East Main Street to Frankfort Cemetery.
       As they wait for the family to arrive at the cemetery's 
     chapel, Charlie Hinds asks Burnett Napier, ``What are you 
     doing lately?''
       ``As little as possible,'' Napier jokes.
       Both Napier and Hinds are World War II combat veterans--
     Napier in the Marines and Hinds in the Army.
       By 19, Napier was fighting in one of the Marine's deadliest 
     battles in the Pacific on Peleliu Island with the 1st Marine 
     Division.
       It was September 1944 when Napier ended up on the coral 
     island fighting against the Empire of Japan. He was a 
     corpsman, or medic, when he ran to the side of a fallen 
     Marine, performed first aid on the man under machine-gun fire 
     before carrying him to safety.
       Shrapnel hit him later in the same battle, and he suffered 
     a concussion.
       Napier, an honor guard member for 15 years, received the 
     Purple Heart and the Silver Star while in combat on the 
     island, which is present day Palau Islands.
       ``They didn't stay in one place for too long. I was all 
     over the Pacific,'' he said.
       ``According to the citation, a Marine was caught in 
     crossfire with machine guns, and, according to the citation, 
     I administered first aid under fire and carried him back to 
     relative safety,'' Napier said.
       Charlie Hinds, 88, has been a member of the honor guard for 
     about 16 years.
       He served in seven campaigns and was an Army scout for 
     General George Patton for two years.

[[Page S2321]]

       ``He wasn't a really nice guy; he wouldn't ever come up and 
     want to know about you personally,'' Hinds said about Patton. 
     ``He just wanted to tell you what to do, but he was a good 
     general.''
       Hinds and his brother enlisted after graduating from high 
     school because his father didn't have enough money to send 
     him to school. He was 18 years old.
       ``With about two weeks left in the war, I was the only 
     (one) left in my platoon,'' Hinds said.
       Family members of the deceased begin to arrive at Frankfort 
     Cemetery. Vince LaFontaine--who has played in hundreds of 
     Frankfort funerals since he was a teenager--warms up with 
     scales, and the men take their positions.
       The weather predictions were correct. The sky clears, the 
     sun comes out and the air warms in time for the ceremony to 
     begin.
       Mauer stands in the doorway of the cemetery chapel where 
     about 15 members of the deceased veteran's family sits. He 
     signals the riflemen after the flag is precisely folded.
       ``Ten-hut,'' he says sternly.
       The seven riflemen fire three shots that echo over the 
     cliff and around South Frankfort before silence takes over, 
     and the bugler plays ``Taps.''
       ``I've heard Taps' over a thousand times it seems, but it's 
     always emotional for me,'' Wolcott says back at the VFW over 
     a lunch of beef stew and corn bread.
       Mauer says he never gets used to hearing ``Taps'' played, 
     either.
       ``There's something about Taps'; it hits an emotion you 
     can't really describe,'' he says.
       Wolcott, who at 84 takes claim as the youngest of the four 
     honor guard World War II veterans, was stationed in Europe 
     from 1944 to 1947.
       The four men sit at the circular table over lunch for about 
     an hour before they decide they need to get home. They agree 
     their health will decide when it's time to hang up their 
     duties with the honor guard.
       ``When you become our age you don't look ahead too far,'' 
     Napier said.
       ``We go day by day, but we'll be here as long as we can.''

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