I went to Kevin’s school
and waited at the place designated in my (grand) parental orientation. Another parent engaged me in
conversation. She was there for her 1st
grader. She is also Kevin’s gym
teacher. She is also a veteran.
If you find yourself
talking to someone who is healthy, friendly and patriotic, chances are you are
talking to a veteran.
Kevin emerged but didn’t
see me. I was only fifteen feet away and
waving my arms, but he just kept looking past me. He was looking for the bike.
Every day of his entire
three-week kindergarten experience I had picked him up with the
motorcycle. On two occasions I was
flying the 5 by 8 flag. Today I was in
the truck and so I was invisible.
30 miles is too far for Kevin
to travel on the bike and I wanted to save the time required to trade the bike
for the truck, so we would travel directly from his school on four wheels. I-294 was fast and we were soon in the center
of
The police station, fire
station and city hall were all nearby the funeral home. A 105 mm howitzer was in the middle of them
all. Kevin got artillery instruction
from a PGRider of Korean War vintage.
He got further instruction
from a
Then he picked up his flag
and carried it over to his assigned post.
He knows he must stand without complaint until he is relieved. Scoot had greeted us and given him a PGR coin. That sustained him for 45 minutes. Then Ro sent him off to guard the cooler –
his favorite duty.
There was a lot of
pedestrian traffic past his flag, in and out of the funeral home. Just 30 feet from the door, there was a lot
of truck traffic, too.
I went inside
briefly. Randol Scott Shelton lay at the
end of a room 35 by 70 feet filled with rows of chairs. Most chairs were filled. A line of mourners extended from the casket
around the room and into the hall. There
was no street noise.
I went back out and
crossed the street to find a good perspective for a broad view. A woman approached me and asked if the
soldier were inside. She was on her way
to the mayor’s office. She was navy for
27 years. She wore a red, white and blue
sweater.
I took my place in the
flagline. After a while, a pair of women
came down our line decorating each of us.
They were Randol’s
cousins. The red, white and blue ribbon
had Randol’s image in its center. She
used a safety pin and took a long time with each of us to attach it in just the
right way.
And then we had to leave. Holly and Robin would have our respective
dinners waiting. Kevin had kindergarten
the next morning, and I had a funeral.
Reluctantly, we headed north on
And then, a very nice
thing happened. A bike with a Patriot
Guard Riders banner on the front, flags on the rear and carrying two
flagholders passed southbound. I
explained to Kevin that we could go because they would take our places.
He wanted to know if we
left early of if they were late.
I took a final three
pictures and then we went home.
Photos
of the visitation taken on Wednesday are here.
On to the Thursday funeral.
Back to ALL MISSIONS.