Jacob Meinert died on January 10^th. He was a member of the 1^st Battalion of the 3^rd Marine Regiment. I attended his funeral in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. As of this writing, the 1/3 Marines have suffered five KIA.

Houston, Minnesota is 180 miles west by northwest of Fort Atkinson. Exactly three months after Jacob’s death I was standing in a Houston cemetery for Curtis Swenson, also 1/3 Marines. This is that story.

Friday: The funeral and burial are tomorrow, but Curtis arrives only today. The Mayo clinic is in town so patients sometimes arrive by small, chartered jet. Curtis would arrive by small, chartered jet. This was a busy part of the airport.

The terminal that services these small jets has a lobby with exterior doors on opposite sides. One side opens to the parking lot; the other to the tarmac. There is a small gift shop, restrooms, a pilots’ lounge and a conference room. When the Marines arrived, they would wait in the pilots’ lounge. When the family arrived, they would wait in the conference room. PGRiders started arriving. We waited in the parking lot.

Craig Ugland, Senior Ride Captain for Southern Minnesota was the Ride Captain In Charge for this mission.

After Craig’s briefing, many of us greeted the three members of the Honor Guard who had been watching nearby.

We walked past them to form a flagline around three sides of the parking lot and waited for the family to arrive.

After the family was settled into the conference room, we moved around the building to the tarmac.

The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars joined us there.

And so did individual service members.

As the time drew close, we formed a corridor of flags. The family would walk down the corridor from the terminal to the place where the jet and hearse would be waiting.

Where also three soldiers, one airman and the Marines were waiting.

And then he arrived.

And landed.

And I left. I didn’t witness the transfer. I planned to move to a new location to photograph the procession moving into town. But before I left, I returned to the terminal.

I found a corner of the room near the parking lot door that had a view of the tarmac door. There were travelers passing through who didn’t know what the commotion was all about. They talked at the counter about getting their planes refueled.

I could not see the PGR corridor of flags, but outside on the tarmac facing the door were the American Legion members, standing with rifles, facing the lobby. Two Marines stood just outside the doors, facing each other.

The family moved out of the conference room, through the lobby, past the two Marines and the American Legion rifles, and then down our corridor.

I left.

It is eight miles from the tarmac to the church. At the four-mile point, 40^th Street bridges over US 63. The wife of a PGRider and some other people were waiting there.

After a while, Curtis passed under us.

Friday:

Arrival at Rochester International Airport

Flagline portraits

Visitation at Bethel Lutheran Church

Saturday:

Funeral at Bethel Lutheran Church

Flagline portraits

Cemetery at Houston Lutheran Church

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