My Love in the Lord and Prayers for Comfort are with you, Dear Heart of Georgia. What a Joyful and Loving Reunion you have Awaiting you One Day!
Thank You for the Blessing of this Great man, O Lord.
Posted on 02/04/2007 7:15:40 AM PST by Heart of Georgia
Thank you for sharing your Dad with us. Our prayers continue for you and your family...
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful tribute!
Prayers for you and yours in your grief at the separation, mixed with thankfulness to God that you were blessed with such a man as your father.
Thank you so much for taking the time to come & update us about the service.
It sounds like it was an amazing & beautiful tribute to a true hero. The song was very touching, and it must have made quite an effect on the people in attendance.
I pray God will continue to be with you, bless you, and hold you in His arms...
"You are my peace (Jn 14:27).
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
My Love in the Lord and Prayers for Comfort are with you, Dear Heart of Georgia. What a Joyful and Loving Reunion you have Awaiting you One Day!
Thank You for the Blessing of this Great man, O Lord.
hugs, my dear!
God Bless. ;-)
My dad received full military honors at the Georgia National Cemetery on February 7, 2007, and it was an awesome sight to behold! I am so proud of the way we show honor to those who have defended our freedoms.
The day couldn’t have been more beautiful - plenty of sunshine and very mild temperatures. We arrived at the cemetery at 10:00 am. This is the most beautiful cemetery I’ve ever seen! There are around 800 acres that will fulfill the needs for veterans’ burials for 50 years. And the view is absolutely spectacular. The first thing my mom said as we were driving along the winding roads, with the beautiful mountains in the background, was, “I feel like I’m home” (home being West Virginia), and it really is amazing how much the North Georgia mountains resemble the mountain ranges in West Virginia.
We pulled up to the building where we would await our escort to the commitment pavilion. As I entered the building, to the right was a picture of President Bush hanging on the wall of the waiting room. Along one wall was a table that held five plaques, each one with the name of a war, the number of soldiers that fought, the casualties (POW, MIA, dead, and wounded), and the following inscribed on each plaque:
Though others
Have forgotten
We shall never forget
Our Comrades
There was one other plaque that I noticed, and I couldn’t help but think, if we could just get a small inkling of what this means:
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it
At 11:00 we were escorted to a pavilion where the commitment service would be held. As our small caravan approached the pavilion, the honor guard, consisting of eight soldiers, was standing on the hillside up from the pavilion. There was a lone soldier standing on the upper right with a bugle in his hand.
Six of the honor guard team began marching down the hill, with the flag bearer marching behind. The rifle bearer and the bugler remained on the hillside.
The seven soldiers stopped at the bottom of the hill and waited as the family arrived and were seated. The honor guard then entered the pavilion, split off into two groups of three, and marched into the pavilion on either side of the commitment table where Dad’s urn was held.
Once they were in place, the flag bearer marched in past them and stood at the head. He handed the flag off to the honor guard member to his left. That member caressed the flag at each corner and along the edges, then he handed it off to the next, and so on, until it reached the last honor guard member. Then the two at the end began the ceremonial unfolding, which was more or less a reverse flag-folding.
The flag was then refolded in a very precise way, with quick, snapping movements. They begin by folding it quickly lengthwise (while snapping it), and they roll it in a certain way along the edge. After the flag was folded, it was then again caressed along the edges and the corners.
(I’m not sure of the significance of this, but it was with very slow and deliberate movements, just as the salutes had been).
The flag was then handed off to the flag bearer, who was an Air Force Sergent.
Orders were given, and the honor guard began marching towards the hill, with the two rows meshing together into single-file.
As these six were marching away, the flag bearer marched over to Mom and bent down in front of her, and said,
"On behalf of the President of the United States, the Department of the Air Force, and a grateful nation, we offer this flag for the faithful and dedicated service of TSGT Burlin Ray Delaney.”
He then handed the flag to Mom, stood and took her hand. She thanked him, I told him we appreciated the job they do, and he turned and marched up the hill.
At the conclusion of this, Dad’s remains were taken away for burial as we remained at the pavilion. The six honor guard members who had marched back up the hill were joined with the rifle bearer, and the seven stood on the hillside with their rifles, facing us.
The order was given, and the seven fired their rifles three times. The Sergent then returned holding three casings, which he handed to Mom. He told her that they represented duty, honor, and country.
We were asked to stand as the bugler played Taps. I was thinking of the words I'd learned while we were at K. I. Sawyer:
Day is done,
gone the sun,
From the hills,
from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.
I don’t know about the others, but those of us on the front row had placed our right hands over our hearts.
Sorry this is such a long post. I wanted to share with those of you who I know understand the significance of this ceremony - and who appreciate our military. The Honor Guard did a superb job, and I know you all would be very proud of them. My dad was a drill Sergent, and I know they would have met with his approval!
Thank you for bearing with me through this.
May God bless and keep our heros. May God continue to bless this country that we love and our loved ones have sacrificed so much to defend.
You are quit the writer thank you for sharing such a personal journey....I felt as if I was there....God Bless
One last inspection for an old DI! How fitting.
Now it's his turn to stand inspection. I doubt he'll be found wanting.
Thanks for sharing that with us.
You were rightfully proud of your dad. He was a very good man.
You honored his life with your posts here, and the government honored his contributions to protecting our freedom.
No one lives forever, but they can go out with honor. Your dad did.
I hope that I leave as beloved as your dad. I'm sure I won't have the honor.
God bless both you and him.
I'm sorry for your loss.
God bless you and my thanks to your late father for his service to our country's freedom.
God bless the memory of your Father, a Warrior who should be honored as such:
KA MATE! KA MATE!
KA ORA, KA ORA!
KA MATE! KA MATE!
KA ORA, KA ORA!
TENEI TE TANGATA PU'RU-HURU
NA'A NEI TIKI MAI WHAKA-WHITI TE RA!
A UPANE! KA UPANE!
A UPANE! KA UPANE!
WHITI TE RA!
HI!
And God be with you and your Family in this hour of sorrow.
Kia Kaha! (Maori: Stand Strong!)
*DieHard*
You have touched me in my heart. I felt so deeply for your family, but I realize that you were very lucky too, to have such a father. God bless and keep all of you until you meet again.
Sincerely,
Elaine
Thank you for that wonderful description.
Deepest condolences........from our family to yours. Prayers will be up for you......but please, thank God for all the years you were blessed with.....with your Dad. Thank Him for all those years.
Your Dad was the kind of man that made this country what it is. We can't thank him enough for all he did. I know you'll miss him terribly.....but in our own way, so will America.
God bless.
I'm so sorry for your loss. My Dad passed away in May, and life is so empty without him. Even though we didn't always get along, we loved each other deeply. He was a veteran too. It was surreal when they presented me with the flag. But Dad would have gotten a kick out of the fact that the bugler was a 100 year old man that played in Eisenhower's band in Europe. His name is Leonard "Rosie" Ross, and you've probably seen him in the Genworth Financial commercials. He still drives, and plays a local steak house in Prescott, Arizona on Friday nights.
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