PDA

View Full Version : Local Marine part of Ford's honor guard



thedrifter
01-02-07, 08:17 AM
Local Marine part of Ford's honor guard
By VICKY TAYLOR Staff writer
Chambersburg Public Opinion

Participating in the funeral of the late President Gerald Ford is something a Chambersburg Marine will always look back on as being a great honor.

"Not everyone can say they guarded the casket of a president," Lance Cpl. Philip Bietsch, son of Chambersburg police Sgt. Walter Bietsch and his wife Kathi, said in a telephone interview Monday night.

Bietsch, 21, is part of the honor guard that stood guard over Ford's casket in Palm Desert, California, before the late president's body was flown to Washington, D.C. for a state funeral.

He will again stand guard over the casket when it is taken to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan following a public funeral service at the National Cathedral this morning. In Grand Rapids, Bietsch will be part of the honor guard at the museum, where Ford will lay in state until his remains are moved to Grace Episcopal Church Wednesday afternoon for a private funeral service.

As a member of Bravo Company at the "8th & I" Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., Bietsch has taken part in many military funerals since joining the Marines in 2004, and he considers it an honor to be able to provide that service to both fallen comrades and retired Marines being buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

His participation in the pomp and pageantry as the country lays to rest its 38th president is a special honor, however.

"It's definitely something to look back on someday and tell your children and grandchildren about," he said. "It is a great honor and I am very proud to do it."

Bietsch, a 2004 graduate of Chambersburg Area Senior High School, joined the Marines his senior year and was off to boot camp within three weeks of graduation. He went to Camp Geiger's infantry school in North Carolina after boot camp and from there was sent to Washington, D.C. to his present assignment.

In Washington, he performs in the "evening" and "sunset" parades at the barracks during the summer months and serves on the barracks "firing party" which honors fallen Marines by firing a 21-gun salute at their funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. He said there are times when he participates in 13 or 14 funerals a week, including those of retired Marines.

Marines usually get two year assignments in Washington, but Bietsch has been selected to stay another year, something that in itself is a reflection on his professionalism and devotion to duty.

"It (the extension of his D.C. assignment) says a lot about being a leader and being proficient at your job," he said.

Bietsch was following in his father's footsteps by going into the Marines.

"My father was my role model," he says of growing up in the Bietsch household as the son of a local policeman. "When I decided to go into the military instead of going right into college, I wanted the challenge and pride of being a Marine."

Bietsch has two older brothers: Tim, who went into the Army and spent seven months in Iraq and just finished college, and Matthew, who was also in the Army and was recently hired by the Chambersburg Police Department. He also has a sister, Sarah, a junior at Chambersburg Area Senior High School.

Although he has followed his father's footsteps by choosing to serve in the Marines, he said he does not plan right now to follow his father and brother into police service. Instead, he hopes to attend Penn State's Mont Alto campus when he gets out of the Marines and get a forestry degree, then transfer to that university's main campus and study wetlands biology.

Bietsch is engaged to Amanda Sick, daughter of Chambersburg elementary principal Paul Sick and Greta Sick, a Greencastle teacher. Amanda Sick is currently attending Temple University, where she is a music education major.

Ellie

thedrifter
01-02-07, 08:20 AM
Published Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Marine to help carry casket

Ford to be buried Wednesday following service in Michigan

By Lindsey Geisler
Special to The Capital-Journal

When Cpl. Gregory T. Zarger joined the United States Marines, he expected to become a fighter. On Wednesday, he will serve in the funeral procession of former President Gerald R. Ford.

Two weeks into boot camp, Zarger was pulled for additional training as a ceremonial marcher. Several interviews and strength tests later, he was selected as a body bearer for military funerals, where he will serve through the end of his enlistment in June 2008.

"I never thought I'd be doing this, but I'm glad I am," he said.

Zarger, 20, graduated in 2004 from Rock Creek High School in St. George. He has been a part of more than 380 funerals for military servicemen, spouses and retirees. Among those were several Marines whose remains were brought back from Vietnam, seven generals, 21 active Marines killed in Iraq and last year's service for former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.

Zarger will be the serviceman at the front of Ford's casket Wednesday for the funeral and burial service in Grand Rapids, Mich. He also will help fold the American flag laid across the casket and hand it off to the commanding officer who will present the flag to former first lady Betty Ford.

His team also transported the president's body to the viewing site in California late last week.

Servicemen from several branches of the military are participating because this is a presidential burial.

"Every service has their own drill," he said. "Coming together, it's a little different."

Zarger said the Marines use six body bearers for funerals and the other branches typically use eight. Joint ceremonies, like the one for Ford, also use eight.

He said the branches practice together about twice a year for a Golden Eagle, or multi-service, funeral.

"We've got a pretty solid team. We've come together quite a bit, and it's going pretty smooth," he said before heading off to practice for the ceremony.

Zarger said he decided to join the Marines when he was in the sixth grade and enlisted in August 2003 as he began his senior year of high school. He remembers watching former President Ronald Reagan's funeral on television and admiring the servicemen at that ceremony.

"I'm definitely filling every goal I ever had," he said.

Zarger said it is a good feeling to know that his family will get to see what he does when Ford's funeral is televised.

"I'm just proud as can be. He finally gets to show what he earned," said David Zarger, his father.

David Zarger describes his son as an outstanding young man who was a great student and football player in high school.

"So, it's not surprising he's where he's at," he said.

Lindsey Geisler is a freelance writer in Topeka. She can be reached at lindsey.geisler@gmail.com.

Ellie