Local funeral home supports honor guard

WASILLA — Honoring veterans has always been an important part of funeral services. Military funeral honors provided by the Department of Defense are a sacred and solemn ceremony.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Honor Guard is a color guard that performs military honors during funerals for eligible veterans or active duty soldiers who have died.

When staff at Anchorage Funeral Home and Valley Funeral Home in Wasilla learned the JBER honor guard needed a casket to use in practice, they jointly purchased and donated a 20-gauge steel casket complete with vinyl letters spelling out the honor guard’s motto, “Honoring Those Who Have Served.”

“The key to his group’s success is a heavy regimen of practice,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Jorge Nunez, a noncommissioned officer in charge of the JBER Honor Guard. “It is very important that we train over and over again. We want to practice to the point that it becomes muscle memory. Once everybody has it down, we strive for perfection by making every step look crisp and sharp. We represent not only our base, but the Air Force and the military, to our local community.”

The owner of the funeral homes, Timothy Wisniewski, also has voluntarily played military taps with his trumpet in conjunction with the VFW and American Legion for military honors and ceremonial events.

“Helping the organizations that pay respect to our nation is something I have always stood behind,” he said.

David McNeil, a funeral director for Anchorage Funeral Home, said it’s an honor to be part of such a good thing.

“It is a privilege as a funeral home to be able to share our resources and help them with such an important objective for our veterans,” he said.

In addition to military funeral honors, eligible U.S. veterans are entitled to be buried in any national cemetery, receive the U.S. flag, a headstone, Presidential Memorial Certificates and veteran survivors may qualify for burial benefits.

Ryan Mills is a funeral director at Valley Funeral Home in Wasilla.