BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com
There may not be a sufficient way to say goodbye to a Veteran for the final time.
But honoring a Veteran’s life, their service and saying thank you to their family is a tradition that Honor Guards all over the nation have carried on for decades.
A 21-gun salute, “Taps,” the folding of a flag and the presentation of the flag to a loved one is something that Danville resident Rich Darby, a 32-year funeral director, has witnessed over time.
Darby remembers August of 2013 when he was working the funeral of a Veteran. The day was extremely hot and humid at Sunset Memorial Park in Danville. Like many others, Darby was in pants and a jacket, sweating.
“I was soaking wet,” Darby said. “I could feel the perspiration inside of my jacket, the sweat dripping down my back. I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself.”
To his left were men and women from Danville’s American Legion Post 210.
“As I was looking at them, standing at attention, they weren’t looking sorry for themselves,” he recalled. “They had sweat dripping down their brows. They were standing, and they were proud because they were honoring this fallen Veteran.”
That “ah-ha” moment led Darby to request a meeting at the Legion Post the next day.
While Post 210 is a successful post, which raises money for the services it offers, Darby wanted to help them also take care of themselves.
Although the Honor Guard had everything needed to fulfill their duties, Darby noticed that they might need some upgrades to their uniforms.
He remembers that the American Legion Post 210 Honor Guard wore grey pants, but they were all different shades of grey. He saw that their blazers were worn in some places, and not fitting in others.
He thought, “This is a very, very important service that these individuals do for our fallen Veterans, and they need to look the part.”
Post members agreed that they could use some upgrades to their uniforms, as they were the ones to purchase and take care of them.
Darby, alongside the Honor Guard and Sunset Funeral Homes, which he owns, stood outside Walmart and on street corners in rural towns with buckets to raise money for the Honor Guard members.
He noticed that while the Veterans were there, people donated generously. When the Veterans were gone, the money trickled in.
That first year, the newly-formed organization raised $5,000.
When WCIA Channel 3 caught wind of the project, they offered to help by letting the Honor Guard be the focus of an upcoming telethon. In no time, $5,000 turned into $30,000.
“We were able to help with more Honor Guards around the area,” Darby said.
On Oct. 2, 2019, the telethon raised $166,000, helping the Operation Honor Guard organization surpass $1 million raised in six years.
Darby said the movement is growing. He’s heard from television stations in Michigan, Colorado and Tennessee which want to get involved. Currently, Operation Honor Guard is raising money in five states.
But the mission is not over.
Darby said that alongside raising funds, there is still work to do.
Part of Operation Honor Guard’s mission is to heighten community awareness of the sacrifice and commitment Honor Guard members make.
“These individuals served our nation,” he said. “They could have come back home and not served, but they are serving today by honoring these fallen veterans. Their job at the cemetery is to provide the last final military goodbye, the send-off.”
Giving Veterans a proper goodbye is in jeopardy, though.
The average age of an Honor Guard member is 77 to 78 years old. An American Legion Post in Philo has 20 members, eight of whom are over 90 years old.
“We are at a point right now where it is critical that we bring on younger honor guard members,” Darby said.
