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With several different ceremonies and occasions to cover, members of the Ridgway Military Honor Detail are pressing for more members to join their fold.

By Joseph Bell

Record Staff Writer

With several different ceremonies and occasions to cover, members of the Ridgway Military Honor Detail are pressing for more members to join their fold.
"I think that some people shy away from this because they feel that they might need to be involved in everything, every funeral, every Memorial Day, every Veterans Day, every Flag Day, every 9/11 ceremony, just everything that we do," Honor Detail member Ben Brendel said in a recent interview. "But nobody can be involved in everything."
Fellow member Dick Yates agreed and emphasized that even the most miniscule contribution helps.
"When they join, we tell them that whatever they can give us, that's fine," Yates said. "It's strictly a voluntary thing.
"If they can attend one funeral a year, that's better than nothing."
Potential Honor Detail members do not have to belong to the American Legion Post 208 or the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5887. Uniforms are provided.
"I don't think it's that people don't want to," Brendel said. "You get self-gratification with this because you know you did something for somebody with this.
"There are funerals that we go to that we don't even know the person or family."
The Honor Detail in Ridgway has also performed out-of-town services in the past, including in both Johnsonburg and St. Marys.
"A veteran is someone who at one point in his or her life wrote a blank check made payable to 'the U.S.A.' for an amount of 'up to and including my life,'" Brendel said. "That is honor and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.
"There is a recognition that we're not going to live forever so we'd better make an impact now. Involvement in the Honor Detail makes us happier and perhaps we will live longer because of our involvement."
For the members already involved in the Honor Detail, a 'can-do' spirit is in many ways the essence of true patriotism. In the future, the members anticipate that their numbers will rise as they continue to carry out their duties.
"This year we had a 9/11 ceremony and we dropped the ball on it, we have nobody to blame but ourselves because we really didn't get the word out well enough," Brendel said. "We're taking it upon ourselves now to make sure that 2010 is a better one."