CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — If you attend any services throughout Memorial Day weekend, you will most likely see honor guards present. However, in recent years, there have been some reports around the country of local units struggling with recruitment.
One honor guard unit traveled to a number of churches on Sunday in Centre County to give their salute, and will do so again on Memorial Day.
"Attention! Prepare to fire," yells a leader. The honor guard members ready their M-1 Garand rifles. And with the yell of "fire," a wall of smoke rises above the ceremony at Gatesburg Lutheran Church on Sunday, followed by more rounds and a rendition of 'The Taps' on the bugle.
A staple of Memorial Day ceremonies is the honor guard.
"An honor guard," Morgan Hummel explains to 6 News, "is assembled from the group of people available to provide the final salute to the fallen soldier. ... It properly is meant for heads of state, but we have kind of minimalized it to honor the fallen."
She points out one misconception that people have about the salute, is "they call it a 21-gun salute or something like that. It's actually a three-round volley."
For about 25 years, Hummel and Michael Tussey have been honor guard members through Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5825 (also called the Dunlap-Meckley-Dean VFW Post 5825) in Pine Grove Mills. Hummel is the honor guard secretary there, while Tussey serves as honor guard commander. Since they joined, there's one big change they have noticed.
"Recruitment," says Tussey. "If you were to ask everybody in there how long they've been here, I think the shortest term you would find would be about 15, 18 [years]."They only have 11 members currently, according to Tussey. He remarks, "That's probably as high as we've been in, forever."
Hummel estimates their "honor guard has been as big as maybe about 20 people" during her time.
Asked why he thinks that's the case, he replies, "I wish I did know."
"But younger people just don't get involved like they used to. It's sad," he mentions, taking an extended pause. "But we try."
Their outpost is not alone in recruiting people, it appears. Reports from outlets across the country in the past few years detail similar issues at some other local VFW outposts (for example: The Times Union, MassLive, Greenfield Recorder, and Military.com).
The VFW's website says its membership stands at more than 1.5 million members today, including its Auxiliary. The nonprofit's membership reportedly peaked in 1992 at about two million, per a 2019 article from it. The same article says it has a presence "in more than 6,000 communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, four U.S. territories, and 11 foreign countries."
A related issue Tussey brings up, is ceremony attendance, noting, "It gets smaller, smaller every year, and the crowd gets older and older."
While Sunday's ceremony at Gatesburg Lutheran Church saw quite the turnout, Tussey says it's a different story at some other places. He recalls 25 to 30 people usually attending the ceremony at Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the Pennsylvania Furnace area, back when he first joined. This Sunday, there were six or seven, by his estimation.
"I think there's a lot of young people out there that may not have any idea what [the honor guard] is really about," he suggests.
Their honor guard unit is about half civilian, says Tussey. One reason some civilians join, is a family connection to the military.
"My fear is that, you know, that it would eventually go by the wayside and that it might be forgotten," Hummel admits. "So, for my part, I do it in honor of my father, who was at Normandy Beach in World War II. And, of course, in honor of my son, who was wounded in Afghanistan."
Her father, Malcolm K. Hummel, was a member of this outpost until his death in 2006, serving in the Army's 28th Infantry Division.
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Her son, Army Sgt. Adam Hartswick, is currently an honor guard member at Post 5825. Hartswick served in 1st Armored Division in Iraq and Afghanistan, losing his legs when he was 22, according to his mother. This year is the 10th anniversary of what she calls "his Alive Day."
Inside the outpost, there's a communal atmosphere — with people sitting around the bar top, chatting and having a laugh. "Everybody knows everybody," says Tussey. "It's one of those kind of places."
However, there may be some signs of hope for national VFW membership numbers. The VFW in 2019 reported having more than 1.1 million members. Although that was only a reported 25,000-member increase, the nonprofit said it was the first increase since that 1992 peak, a 27-year spread.
Hummel brings up a quote from the Gettysburg Address:
"The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here."She says: "That's the part [of the Address] that gives me the hope, ... that the torch will be picked up and carried by the future generation. And hopefully, there may not be a need for war, ever. But, you know, until we have peace in our hearts, it's gonna continue to be a hope."
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