Veteran’s Corner

Jason Hicks | Commander

United Patriotic bodies

Fargo Memorial Honor Guard

Welcome to Fall everyone. Even if last weekend didn’t feel like it (90 plus degrees) the season is definitely changing. My and I ventured to Maplewood state park for observe the leaf changing and while not quite peak the change is underway. While there we stopped at the SSG Joshua Robert Hanson memorial picnic shelter. Josh was a friend of mine who was killed in action in Iraq Aug 30th 2006. So I took time to reflect on a friendship cut short and a young life lost too soon.  I highly encourage people to go and see this memorial.

With October here already I am proud to say the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard celebrates four years of existence. Our beginnings are very humble, a collective group of dedicated Veterans who purchased their own uniforms so we could give the honor earned to our departed comrades. Since then we have expanded our efforts considerably. We now offer many services in addition to the standard “shoot and toot” (Rifle volley and Taps). We are very privileged to have an ordained minister who is a squad leader in our group. Russ has officiated in hundreds of ceremonies at the family’s request. And at the end of the day that is what we are about- Supporting families of our nation’s veterans in their time of mourning. I am so proud of our men and women who serve on the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard.

Through out our years of existence there have been ups and downs. From dealing with career bureaucrats at the VA to personal attacks on myself and others, we have persevered and outlasted several (So long Bob). We have come so far in our building project from a very basic concept to a solid design that will be a reality soon. We have raised over one million dollars so far as a strictly grass roots effort. A kind of funny thing about this project, such a simple concept has been met with criticism and undermining efforts. We as Veterans identified a specific need in lack of facilities and found there wouldn’t be support from the VA or government for funding, so like soldiers we adapted and came up with a plan and are diligently working. If you can believe it one of our local politicians has been bad mouthing us and myself for a period of time in an attempt to derail this project. The only possible explanation would be to further her political career and attempt to take credit. Thankfully we are non-partisan and do not play the political games.

 To date there have been 846 internments and over 11,821 volunteer hours donated by the Fargo memorial honor guard. Thank you for your continued support of the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard.