New York National Guard provided honors at 9,000 veteran funerals in 2023

New York National Guard soldiers and airmen projected providing military funeral honors for the families of 9,000 veterans by the end of 2023.

New York Army National Guard honor guard soldiers anticipated conducting more than 7,100 total funeral honors services, while their New York Air National Guard counterparts conducted services for 1,990 families.

These figures are based on funeral tallies as of Dec. 21, and estimates of funerals to be conducted by Jan. 1.

In 2022, 9,824 families were served by Army and Air National Guard honor guards, and in 2021, the funeral honors were conducted 10,431 times.

Federal law requires the military to provide honors at the funerals of any former members of the U.S. military who were not dishonorably discharged. This includes members of the reserves and National Guard.

Army Guard honor guard's provide honors for Army veterans, while the Air Guard conducts funeral for Air Force vets.

The New York Army National Guard currently has 39 soldiers working funeral details full-time and 48 soldiers who volunteer part-time. The New York Air National Guard has 22 airmen with a full-time funeral honors mission, and 68 volunteers.

Soldiers and airmen on the details are trained to ensure that everything they do meets exacting standards. These range from the uniforms they wear, to the way they fold the flag presented to families.

Honor guard members take these standards seriously, according to Spc. Mason Cool, who oversees the Army Guard honors detail in Buffalo.

"We do a lot of rigorous training," he said.

Air National Guard Chief Master Sgt. James Jarmacz, who heads the 174th Attack Wing honor guard at Hancock Air National Base in Syracuse, agreed.

"This may be the only military that some of these family members see," Jarmacz said. "They see our team out there honoring their family member."

By law, every veteran is guaranteed a two-person funeral detail.

Mandated honors include folding a flag and presenting it to the family. While one detail member presents the flag, the other plays taps on an electronic bugle.

Retired military personnel, and those who passed away while on active duty, are entitled to honors that involve as many as nine or more soldiers or airmen. These can include a rifle firing party and pallbearers.

Ideally, honors are conducted at the gravesite, but honor guards must be flexible, said Army Guard Sgt. Edwin Barreto, who oversees the Army Guard teams in New York City.

His detachment, which provides honors around 1,000 times a year, can be tasked to conduct six to 10 services daily, Barreto said.

Because funeral directors usually scheduled their graveside events from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., honors must be conducted other times, he explained.

"I have to call funeral homes that are willing to work with me to do services before the Mass," Barreto said. “We are also conducting services late at night at the wake."

Going from cemetery to cemetery in heavy New York City traffic slows things down even more, Barreto added.

New York Air National Guard Airmen assigned to the 105th Airlift Wing Honor Guard provide funeral honors for retired Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Mario Scaduto in Yonkers on Dec. 16, 2023, accompanied by members of the Stewart Air National Guard Base Fire Department. Scaduto had served in the 105th Civil Engineering Squadron. He was one of over 1,900 veterans honored by the New York Air National Guard in 2023. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Lt. Briana Ross)

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While his soldiers face heavy traffic, Cool's teams in the Buffalo office face long distances.

"Our area is so large we might have a service in Niagara Falls and another service in Alleghany, a good hour and a half away," he said.

Teams also travel outside New York. On Dec. 20, four airmen from the 109th Airlift Wing in Scotia helped inter Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacob Galliher – killed in a special operations aircraft crash – in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Air Guard Master Sgt. Alan Sanchez, whose 106th Rescue Wing honor guard covers Long Island and New York City, is one of the busiest in the Air Force.

The 27 airmen from F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard base – whose area includes the massive Calverton National Cemetery – had conducted 640 funerals in 2023.

But Sanchez, who has been in the honor guard business for 15 years, in both the Army and Air Guard, said the number of funeral services is dropping.

"Whether it has to do with enlistment numbers, and fewer veterans and fewer servicemembers that served in that time period, there is a 10% decrease in funerals," he said.

According to the website USA Facts, in 2022 there were 580,856 veterans living in New York, down 35% from 2012.

According to the Veterans Administration, the number of veterans in New York is dropping at just over 3% annually.

The World War II generation, with 16 million veterans, was the largest group of veterans for years. But now, according to the National World War II Museum, only an estimated 119,000 World War II veterans are still living.

Both Army and Air Guard honor guard members say they love what they do, but the job can be "emotionally taxing," Sanchez noted.

"I tell the soldiers not to choke, but I choke sometimes, especially when you have to give the flag to a very young child," Barreto said. "I have had to give it to a 7-year-old. It's difficult."

On one mission, where remains were being transferred at an airport, it was very tough to keep his composure, Barreto recalled.

"Coming from the plane, the mother just dropped to the floor," he recalled. "Sometimes it just gets the best of you. We are all human after all, and sometimes it just gets the best of you."

A week before the end of 2023, the New York Army National Guard's eight honor guard detachments had conducted these services:

√ Albany: 651

√ Camp Smith (Hudson Valley): 793

√ New York City: 978

√ Long Island: 2,341

√ Buffalo: 857

√ Rochester: 605

√ Binghamton (Southern Tier): 213

√ Syracuse: 508

The New York Air National Guard's base honor guards conducted the following funerals in 2023:

√ 105th Airlift Wing, Newburgh, Hudson Valley: 236

√ 106th Rescue Wing, Westhampton Beach, Long Island: 633

√ 107th Attack Wing, Niagara Falls (With Air Force Reserves 914th Refueling Wing): 428

√ 109th Airlift Wing, Schenectady: 229

√ 174th Attack Wing, Syracuse: 362

√ Eastern Air Defense Sector, Rome: 68