Fred was Ride Captain. Like all the best ones, he has a crystal-clear understanding of our mission. A mission with Fred is no party.

Which is fine with me. We didn’t gather for a party – it was a funeral. This mission might be satisfying to us, but it is not fun for us. I suppose that in better weather, it is enjoyable to ride our bikes to and from the event, and sometimes to ride in procession. This day, there was ice on the roads and a half-foot of snowfall expected. Only one of us would ride this day, and it wasn’t for fun.

Judy had some sad family business to address. Without sleep the night before, she had returned from New York and promptly saddled-up and rolled-in.

The Honor Guard came from Fort Leonard Wood, 440 miles to the southwest. There the army trains for chemical warfare. They also produce MPs (Military Police) and engineers. These were engineers.

Albert Bitton was a medic. MP, engineer or medic, all soldiers are patriotic warriors. All have volunteered to face evil in an effort to do good. They all risk death. Albert died and they came to pay tribute as only fellow soldiers can.

So they lined-up in the parking lot next to the synagogue and waited for the hearse to arrive. A few PGRiders stood nearby.

Kohein are descendents of Aaron and have a special role in Jewish tradition separate from the rabbis. Jewish law prevents the kohanim from coming into the presence of a corpse. Accordingly, Albert’s mortal remains would remain inside a casket, covered by an American flag, loaded in the hearse, parked in the lot.

The mourners would use the front door. They would not witness the lonely vigil of the soldiers and the PGRiders.

And that’s all right. Albert was a Jew, so that is the way he would have wanted it. Two years ago, he joined the army. A few months before that, he graduated from Ida Crown Jewish Academy. His high school sent three busses of students to his funeral.

Fred moved all of our group to the front door. I think that was right. Our mission was to “show” respect and it is not shown if it is not seen. Three bus loads of Albert’s underclassmates walked between our flags, as did many others.

I was standing near the door next to Judy when a gentleman appeared before me, hand outstretched: “Thanks for being here.”

It was the lieutenant governor of Illinois.

Pat Quinn has offered me his hand many times before and I appreciate his efforts to support the fallen hero and his family. Today he would travel from our flagline for this soldier to our flagline for a sailor fourteen miles south. Yeoman Patrick Quinn served through World War II. He was Pat Quinn’s father.

So: The Lieutenant Governor took time away from his father’s funeral to attend Albert’s funeral. I slipped out of our flagline long enough to get his photo as he left. If he will replace Barack Obama in the United States Senate, we will be represented there by a good man.

When I returned to my place I found that Judy was still holding her flag, as also she prayed.

In our absence, a lone woman (perhaps the shomer) had joined the detail of engineers and she too was quietly praying.

If the casket had been indoors, there would have been one soldier at the head of the casket and one at the foot standing motionlessly in perfectly arranged Class-A uniforms. As it was, they stood in the parking lot.

For such duty, the army prohibits overgarments. Only a few of them had long, insulated underwear. So they rotated.

Their mission had them standing with Albert in the cold even if no one saw them. It may seem ironic that the best-dressed people at the funeral stood by themselves in the wintery mess of the parking lot, but I am sure that Albert understands.

Two other Screaming Eagles had traveled with Albert from Baghdad. Those who stay to guard the body are called shomerim. A few PGRiders were there for a short time when Albert first arrived at the synagogue and the lone woman was there for much of the time, but only his fellow soldiers were with him continuously.

The two Screaming Eagles and the engineers from Missouri were Albert’s shomerim.

Fred had us move our vehicles to prepare to lead the procession to the cemetery. Then he had us stand by our vehicles while holding our flags. A short time later he called us to attention and the hearse moved slowly past. The adults (not the Ida Crown students) walked behind it ceremoniously, past our flags, for one block. Then they walked back to their cars and we positioned our cars ahead of the hearse.

The Patriot Guard supplied one biker, Judy, with a small flag of Israel flying below her American flag. She would directly follow the hearse and lead the mourners.

No kohanim would enter the cemetery and so Albert could be amidst his family and community. The honor guard took their position a short distance away.

In addition to the rifle salute and Taps, they would fold two casket flags. Two presentation cases were ready: one for the widow and one for the parents. The two Screaming Eagles held Albert’s posthumous medals. And two PGRiders would present our plaque.

The 101^st Division Screaming Eagles lost a soldier. He was a medic and a Jew and a patriot. According to the newspaper, “Bitton was so proud of his Army service, friends said, that he wore his uniform everywhere when he returned to Chicago on leave – even to the bowling alley and park.

“‘He always wore those super-shiny shoes,’ said friend Benjy Kandelman. ‘He never had a scuff on them.’”

In mid-afternoon on a Tuesday, Albert was lowered into a hole in the ground. The cemetery workers then lowered the lid of the vault. While the many assembled took turns with the shovels, the army and the Patriot Guard quietly took their leave.

photography

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