At a funeral for veterans the seven members of the Honor Guard fire off three rounds of shots. Honor Guard Captain, Dennis Johnson said that the shell casings are preserved and given to the family of the veteran.
“When we fire we will pick up the shells and we take them to whoever gets the flag and they get the shells.” Johnson said. “While we’re folding the flag we add a three pack that are cleaned for the family so they can have the name of the deceased put on them or whatever they like.”
He said it’s important to give veterans the heroes farewell that they deserve. If the veteran doesn’t have any living relatives then they do something special with the shells.
I’ll do with them.” Said Johnson. “I’ll polish the shells and we will put three in each flag from now until we run out of them.”
The three casings that are put in the flag when it is folded all represent something different.
“These three empty rounds represent duty, honor, and country.” Said Honor Guard member Jim Bell. “What the flag folder does is he puts these in the flag when it’s formed in triangle and gives the flag to to the deceased relatives.”
