Page 6 - March ARB Beacon 7-2-15

6 July 2, 2015 www.aerotechnews.com/marcharb
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From REUNION page 1 “I have worked with many of them over half U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Russell S. McMillan
their life, said Lt. Col. Ken Goode, chief of mis-
ARB on a consistent basis, explained Block. sion control, 729th Airlift Squadron, March Senior Master Sgt. Paul Mitt, detachment chief, 163rd Recon-
The now tax exempt organization has doubled ARB. “Their work and career was here at March QDLVVDQFH:LQJDQVZHUVTXHVWLRQVDERXWWKH045HDSHUDW
in membership in the past two years and is ex- or Norton. This reunion was a way to stay con- March Air Reserve Base on June 20. Members of the Norton-
pected to grow more. nected, like an alumni group.” March Aircrew Association traveled to March ARB from all over
the U.S. to reconnect with past airmen, participate in a base tour
“I used to fly with all these guys from 1979 “We thank Lt. Col. Goode, the 452 Aero- and attend various social activities.
to 2007, said retired Senior Master Sgt. Frank medical Evacuation Squadron, 452nd Opera-
Shaw, who attended the reunion for the first tions Group, 729th Airlift Squadron and the
time. He was a loadmaster with the 729th Airlift base commander on down for all the support,”
Squadron and explained he was one of the first Block said.
reservists to qualify on the C-17 Globemaster III
in 2005. “It’s great to see everyone again.” The NMAA will be scheduling future re-
unions every two years and intends to have them
During their tour of the base, NMAA members held at March ARB, explained Block. But to as-
visited and learned about the C-17 Globemas- sist with managing the growth and operations of
ter III, KC-135 Stratotanker and MQ-9 Reaper. the nonprofit association, the next reunion will
Many members were very interested and im- be planned by a seven-member planning group
pressed with the aircraft March ARB maintained, chaired by the former 452nd AMW commander,
for many were more familiar with the C-141 Star- Col. Timothy J. Wrighton.
lifter, which was eventually retired in 2006.
To learn more about the organization,
“It will definitely make more folks inter- future reunions and possible volunteer op-
ested [seeing the MQ-9 Reaper] and recruit for portunities, please visit: http://www.norton-
a younger crowd,” commented retired Senior marchaircrew.org/.
Master Sgt. Frank Owens regarding any current
recruiting efforts needed.

From HONOR page 5 white gloves were critical. Master Sgt. from the shelter with rows of benches and were long, it wouldn’t leave enough flag
suit and ate his usual breakfast of fried Darryl Willingham had told them so dur- near a row of volunteers with rifles who to tuck into the edge and make a crisp tri-
eggs and toast. He thought about how ing their training. would fire the volleys.The flag-draped cas- angle. He’d have to unfurl it and refold.
this day was finally here. It would be a ket was slid out of the dark hearse. Trujillo It’s one of the worst nightmares for an
military funeral with honors. He’d at- “The gloves are the only thing that can and Webster stood stiff and saluted. honor guard.
tended a few before. He’d seen them in touch eternity and come back,” Willing-
movies. But this was different. ham said. Final salutes Webster remembered her first funeral.
The family flinched as a succession of She had to do a refold.
This felt like the first time. Trujillo washed them, put them in the three rounds of volleys was fired.
The hour drive from his home in dryer to shrink them so they’d fit his hands. Morgan started to tear up. Ledezma “It was horrible,” she said. “Just
Orange to Riverside was a quiet blur. But when he pulled them out, they were raised the bugle to her lips. The first notes horrible.”
At the cemetery, numbness took root streaked with dark lines. He panicked. of taps began to play. The sisters and their
as Staff Sgt. Zakia Webster walked to- He darted off to Men’s Warehouse to buy mother wept. Trujillo kept going.
ward him. She offered her condolenc- some new white gloves while his wife and The 44-year-old thought about his fa- Fold. Fold. Step.
es. She told him how she — along with his mother-in-law tried to fix them. ther and how he loved to restore cars. He Fold. Fold. Step.
Senior Airman Joseph Trujillo and once rebuilt a Model T. Even as the cancer Fold. Fold. Step.
Staff Sgt. Anahi Ledezma — would be She rewashed them and used some spread, he was still waxing his car up until His hands trembled slightly and, on the
conducting funeral honors. bleach. It worked. The Men’s Warehouse a week before he died. 11th fold, had to stop and adjust before
Webster walked back to the white van gloves stayed behind. “He probably rebuilt more cars than all continuing. The 13th fold was the end and
and opened the door and looked at Trujillo of us have ever owned in our lifetimes,” Webster tucked the blue into the pocket
and Ledezma. Trujillo had pictured how the funeral Kym Carmichael, Roland Morgan’s created by the folds. She smoothed out the
“Let’s go,” Webster said. would go. The slow steps with the casket daughter, said. “He was a perfectionist. It edges as Trujillo clutched it.
Attention to detail would be at just the right cadence. The sa- appealed to him.” Away from the flag folding, Ledezma
Ledezma had been battling illness for lute would be perfect. The flag fold would Gerald Morgan thought about the fami- had quietly walked back to the van. With
days and the cough just wouldn’t let up. be just as Willingham had taught him. It ly ofVietnamese refugees his father helped slow, deliberate, steps, it looked like she
What if while she lifted the bugle to her would be handed to a loved one and stay gain citizenship and settle in Southern Cal- was right on cue.
lips, she started hacking? She had prom- folded that way forever. ifornia. ‘I couldn’t stop coughing once I got into
ised to have a good breakfast this morning, “One of them is a doctor now,” Morgan the van,” she said.
but she only had two granola bars. What He didn’t know who was being buried said. “They’re all still here.” Webster took the flag after Trujillo
if she felt weak? Her uniform was crisp, today other than the man’s name: Airman Trujillo knew none of this. His job presented it to her. She made the de-
her shoes were impossibly shiny and black. Roland Morgan. Trujillo had joined the wasn’t to mourn, but to provide honor and liberate walk to the widow and said the
She practiced the slow move of raising the honor guard to pay respects to his grandpa, respect. He said that even during training, words of thanks on behalf of a grateful
silver horn to her lips. who was buried in the same cemetery as he’d clear his mind of everything but the nation. Bettina Morgan trembled as she
But as she did, the collar of her blue the one Morgan would be buried in. Miss- task in front of him. held the flag.
shirt irritated her throat. She wished she ing his grandfather’s funeral was a regret. He started to fold the flag, each Morgan teared up again. There was a fi-
had brought some throat lozenges. He had allowed himself a quick thought triangle bringing him a step closer to nal salute, and Webster and Trujillo left the
“I’m more nervous than I thought,” about him when Webster drove the van Webster holding the other end. It was family alone.
she said. through the gates of Riverside National harder to do wearing the gloves and the “This will stick with me forever,” Mor-
Trujillo had his big scare the night Cemetery. But after that, Morgan and his flag was starched, unlike the practice gan said.
before. family were the only things that mattered. flags he’d been trained on. Trujillo would do three more funerals
He’d gone home and washed his white Webster watched closely. So much that week and, over the next three years,
gloves for his first funeral service. The He got out of the van, checked his depended on Trujillo’s fold. If the folds will do hundreds more.
gloves and his hat in the tinted reflection of But Tuesday was for Morgan. For
the van window. The ribbons and pins on grandpa. For all time.
his jacket exact to the honor guard’s dress
code. He had measured them with a ruler.

Ledezma walked off to a far corner away