2014 Schedules

                         555th Honors Detachment Meeting Schedule For 2014


DINNER MEETING                                               DUTY WEEK



12 June                                                              16-20 June


31 July                                                               04 - 08 August


18 September                                                   22 - 26 September


06 November                                                   10 - 14 November


16 December (Tuesday)                                   29 DEC - 02 JAN 2015

Soldier Killed in Action to receive full Military burial after 64 years

Donald C. Durfee, Private First Class United States Army, was 19 years old when Killed in ActionDecember 2, 1950 at the Chosin Reservoir Battle in North Korea . PFC Durfee ‘s remains were turned over during Operation Glory in 1954 and later interned as an Unknown in the National Military Cemetery of the Pacific. He was then later Identified onNovember 5, 2013through Military DNA registry. The repatriation and welcoming home of PFC Durfee will beMarch 4, 2014 with Full Military honors after 64 years.

The remains will be flown to Cleveland, OH onTuesday, March 4, 2014 at11:53 amunder escort from the United States Army and will be greeted by Military honor guard, Airport Rescue and Firefighting honor guard and members of the Patriot Guard Riders. This honor ceremony represents the 250th honor salute since the inception of the CLE Fallen Soldier program in 2002.

PFC Durfee has NO SURVIVING FAMILY to attend, but several Military groups will honor this veteran. All Law Enforcement or Uniformed Services direct questions to Charlie McGeever216-323-2000.

PFC Durfee will “Lie in honor” Wednesday 2-4 PM AND Thursday 11 AM -1 PM at the Craciun Berry Funeral Home 7200 Detroit Ave. Cleveland. Committal Services will be heldThursday 2:30 PM at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman, Ohio.

The Ohio Patriot Guard Riders is a 100% Volunteer, Federally registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization which ensures dignity and respect at memorial services honoring Fallen Military Heroes, First Responders and Honorably Discharged Veterans

Utah Airman Missing Since 1944 Returns Home

SALT LAKE CITY — Roughly 150 distant relatives crowded into five buses at Salt Lake City International Airport to welcome home a man they had never met.

They lined both sides of the airport runway and watched as a commercial airliner touched down and passed under a water cannon salute.

The remains of U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Vernal J. Bird, who had been missing in action since 1944, returned home Wednesday.

Bird is one of the 189 World War II veterans located by the Department of Defense's Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office nationwide since 2007.

"Actually here. Actually here," great-niece Lorna Snyder said after the plane landed.

Snyder grew up hearing stories about her great-uncle as a child, but it wasn't until she moved into her mother's home more than 10 years ago and read the letters Bird had sent that she began to search in earnest for her missing relative.

Bird piloted a A-20G Havoc bomber as part of the 5th Air Force, 3rd Bombardment Group, 13th Bombardment Squadron. On March 12, 1944, he flew in a bombing mission to strike the Japanese Air Force base in Boram, Papua New Guinea. He and a gunner in the plane went missing that day.

Some family members said they thought his plane went down over the ocean, but Snyder did not agree.

"I just thought, 'He's gotta be somewhere. The plane's gotta be somewhere,'" she said.

Snyder began attending meetings held by the Department of Defense and convinced Bird's sister, Elaine Jack, 92, to provide a DNA sample. The department's Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office gives monthly updates in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country on the more than 83,000 missing U.S. service members.

A breakdown by state is not available for World War II, but more than 73,000 veterans nationwide are still missing.

In 2001, members of the Joint Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command found Lt. Bird's plane during the excavation of another downed plane. His remains were identified through DNA testing on Aug. 28, 2013.

Back in Salt Lake City, people crowded by terminal windows inside to watch as a military escort brought the casket draped in an American flag from the airplane to a waiting hearse.

Snyder wore her great-uncle's dog tags and held a small American flag, snapping pictures throughout the event. Her husband, Ken, held her and wiped tears from his eyes after the coffin was loaded into the hearse.

Bird's casket was driven in a procession down to his native Springville. Flags to commemorate his arrival will fly on Springville's Main Street through Saturday.

Bird will be honored in a memorial service from 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Saturday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse at 1295 E. 900 South, just east of Springville High School

 

Wooster Flag Program

The accompanying photos are related to the Flag  Raising Program which is an outreach program of the Wayne County Veterans Service Commission. This program was established for the families of deceased Wayne County Veterans who request their casket Flag be flown above the Wayne County Veterans Memorial located in the Wooster, OH cemetery. The program was started, by the Commission office, sometime in the middle 1990’s.

 

 After the formation of the 555th Honors Detachment in 2000, that group got involved when SFC Lloyd Boyer was asked to take over. A short ceremony was created to honor the memory and service of the deceased Wayne County Veterans. In August 2003, SSG Roger Bucher started helping with the program and in April 2004 took over the responsibility of working with the Veterans Service office and getting other volunteers to conduct this ceremony. To date, the 555th has conducted 275 Flag raising ceremonies for the families of Wayne County. The members who have been involved since 2003 have been SSG Darrell Schrock, Army, CPL William Rastetter, USMC, SSG Jerry Curren, Army, SFC. Richard Silvers, Army, PFC Homer Walters, Army and Michelle Rose, USAF.

 

CLIOCK ON PHOTO TO VIEW VIDEO.

SILENCE

Colonel Duffy Speaks on Veteran's day 2011

Colonel Don Moomaw 2011 Veteran on The Year

Don Moomaw, a retired Air Force/Army colonel, was named as the 2011 Wayne County Veteran of the Year during the event.
"This is a surprise," Moomaw said, a retired United States Air Force colonel, as he thanked those in the 555th Honors Detachment who recommended him and others who selected him as Veteran of the Year.
Moomaw, a decorated veteran of World War II and the Korean War, also served as an Air Force reservist as well as in the Ohio Organized Militia. He has been married 64 years to his wife, Betty. They have four children.
"It's been an honor to be able to wear the uniform and serve," Moomaw said.
His name will now be enshrined on a plaque with past Veterans of the Year, which hangs in the Wayne County administration building.

Vivan Duffy, a retired Colonel in the United States Army, was the day's featured speaker.
His speech focused on the importance of upholding the oaths and pledges to the nation, as described in oaths taken by military members at the time of their enlistment.
"If we forget we are one nation under God, then we will become one nation gone under," Duffy said.
And an emotional Eric Coots, president of the Joint Veterans Association and veteran of the Somalia conflict, urged everyone in attendance to honor current troops as they begin returning home.
"Make sure to give special recognition to the veterans currently serving in Afghanistan and the far-reaches of the world," he said. "And thanks to the families of veterans... without their families, a lot of veterans wouldn't be where they are today."
Tim Neal, county clerk of courts, sang the national anthem and "Proud to be an American" during the ceremony.