Taking Care of People: Honor Guard Buries One of its Own

Command Sgt. Major Candy Fredette remembers one funeral service last winter.

TAPE: we were complaining b/c some of us didn’t have long johns on and it was too darn cold. And why would anybody want to have a ceremony like that in the winter time....our feet were freezing. It was like, ‘I wish the hearse would hurry up and get here.

Corporal Scott Dimond was standing there, shivering alongside Fredette.

He was 38 then.

Married with four kids, collecting a pension after nearly twenty years as a cop, he didn’t need to be out there.

But since high school, Dimond had always wanted to be a military man.

And in just a few weeks time he was off to war.

TAPE: he knew he was going over to Afghanistan and he was proud to be able to go over there and serve his country.

Grumbling about cold toes became a more serious conversation as Dimond and Fredette waited.

Dimond imagined he was in the back of the hearse.

He told Fredette, ‘if I die, I want to be taken care of the way I take care of people.’

TAPE: You never think that when you talk about stuff like that. You are just hoping it’s not you....and then the hearse comes down and we started the mission.

People who knew Corporal Dimond say he treasured his short stint on the Honor Guard.

The demands of the job suited him.

A stickler for detail, he liked to practice folding the flag into a blue triangle, working the corners to conceal any red fabric.

He kept his uniform- a saucer hat, navy blue jacket, royal blue pants- in immaculate condition.

But his mother Marie Gnerre says that’s not what he liked best.

TAPE: He always did jobs that pertained to taking care of people. it made him feel good to do that.

But- sometimes- Gnerre says the work got to him.

TAPE: he told me he would get a flash of his brother, when he lost his brother...going to his brother’s funeral.

When Scott was 18, his 19 year old brother Luke drowned in a swimming accident.

Gnerre says she encouraged Scott to stay positive, and support the people who needed in a moment of crisis.

She feels he adopted that attitude on the Honor Guard.

But now with Scott gone, whatever she had built to hold back the pain of losing a child is broken.

TAPE: the hurt is still there that I can’t give him a hug and tell him I love him. and now I can’t do this with my other son Scott. Can’t say goodbye.

TAPE:..one, two, three...four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

Honor Guard members are standing over a mock grave site, complete with metal casket, and fake grass mats.

They’re trying to nail the pacing that’s needed to effortlessly fold the flag with six people.

TAPE: that’s one thing you don’t want to do, hit the casket...but they made their step out, it was good...we are getting their guys...it just takes some practice.

Honor Guard members know they can’t ease the pain Dimond’s family feels.

But they can respect Scott’s wish to be buried with full military honors- a 21 gun salute, a color guard, taps, the whole bit.

That’s why they’ve put so much time into practice.

Sgt. Major Candy Fredette will present the flag to Dimond’s wife on Saturday

TAPE: this flag is being presented on behalf of a grateful nation as an expression of appreciation for honorable and faithful service rendered by your loved one. Those are going to be the hardest words I have to say on Saturday to his wife...and I know Scott will be up there watching us. And we will keep it all in. and we’ll get through it.

Just the way Corporal Scott Dimond would have wanted it.

For NPR News, I’m DG in Concord, NH.