The mood is somber as many gather around a fallen comrade, and the words spoken by a member of a guard starting the honors ceremony highlight the reason they have gathered: “We are here assembled to pay a lasting tribute of respect to our departed comrade…”

One such guard is the Carter County Honor Guard. The group’s Facebook page says they have been around since 1776 with the mission of “pay[ing] tribute to the duty, honor and sacrifice of servicemen and women who have served in the armed forces.” Despite this challenge and length of service, the guard has never received full, official funding.

The guard is currently in need of help due to the increase in military honors funerals during the last few years, according to one of its leaders, Kelly Greene. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 640 WWII veterans die each day, but this does not include the service members from other wars and campaigns, nor the veteran suicide rate, currently claiming 20 lives a day.

Greene, a retired fleet US Marine with four years infantry under his belt, spoke about the current hardships the honor guard he has overseen for five years faces daily.

“One of the common assumptions held by the public, and even some veterans, is when [a veteran] dies, the military is going to send out a full team […] to handle the burial, when in actuality all they send are two people who handle the flag folding,” Green said. “It is up to us to provide the chaplain, firing team, taps, and so on.”

There is also another misconception that the honor guard receives support from the American Legion, which are both stationed in Elizabethton. While the Legion does provide the guard with a headquarters and a small financial stipend to help service the guard’s mobile transport, which consists of one later model van, that is the extent of the support.

“We are two different entities,” Green said.

The Legion focuses on improving the quality of life of living service members; the guard ensures they receive a proper burial when that life has ended.    

Greene said most of the hardships are not just financial but a general lack of qualified volunteers to help with all that should be done to bury veterans with full honors. This has led, in the past, for the guard to use civilians, but Green said this creates a problem.

“They will come to get a uniform, get a uniform and then leave,” he said.

The uniform then needs to be tracked down in order to avoid “stolen valor” problems, which occur when military dress, some with specific unit patches, are in the hands of people who have not served and wear them out in the public.

What the honor guard needs the most, according to Greene, is more volunteers with military service to hold flags, play taps, and fire rifles, and other tasks. People with no military service can show their appreciation by helping with non-formal events and financial donations. Anyone wanting to help can find out more information by going to the honor guard’s website at www.cartercountyhonorguard.com or by calling Greene directly at 423-895-3819.