Saturday afternoon a thunderous rumble on the road outside my house brought me to my Igo kitchen window. The sound grew progressively louder. About 50 motorcyclists roared by. Some bikes had American flags and various military branch flags that waved in the warm wind.
I recognized them as Patriot Riders. This was the first motorcycle procession to leave Joshua Munns’ funeral in Anderson and head for the Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo for his internment.
Joshua Munns was a Shasta County Marine. He’d already served two tours of duty in Iraq when he returned to Iraq as a civilian contract worker. He was kidnapped in late 2006, held hostage and eventually murdered more than a year later.
He was 25.
Saturday his family, friends and community came to say goodbye.
Doni couldn‘t attend the service, so I grabbed my camera and notebook and left for my first solo assignment.
When I reached the cemetery I saw the motorcyclists who had recently passed my house. Their bikes were parked. They gathered at the cemetery’s entrance. They held flags attached to poles. We were among the first there.
The atmosphere was relaxed. The Patriot Riders swapped stories about their military service and the latest work on their bikes. While they chatted, a steady stream of people entered the cemetery. Cars and trucks lined both sides of Gas Point Road.
I spotted a helicopter in the sky north of the cemetery. It flew toward us, a sign that Joshua Munn’s funeral procession was approaching. The Patriot Riders suddenly stood at attention. They held their flags high. Conversation stopped.
The hearse appeared at the cemetery gates and entered. The crowd grew somber. The hearse slowed to a stop near a covered area. One car that had followed the hearse also stopped. Some people – later introduced as Joshua Munns’ family – got out and walked toward the hearse.
Marines in dress blues approached the hearse with an intense formality. Hundreds of faces across the cemetery grounds shared a single expression: Solemn. Some people cried. Others held each other.
Someone removed a box from the hearse that held Joshua Munns’ remains and handed it to a Marine.
For a moment if seemed as if everyone held their breath. Flags flapped loudly against the breeze.
The Marines moved in formation with Joshua Munns’ remains and a folded American flag to a covered area where a man spoke for a few minutes. The man introduced the Munns family and said a prayer.
The quiet was broken by shots fired in a 21-gun salute. Then the amplified strains of a bugle played Taps.
The crowd disbursed quietly. There was not much left to say.
After a very, very long journey, Joshua Munns was home.
Click twice on center arrow below picture to view slide show.
(Be sure speakers are on.)
[slideshare id=351455&doc=mumms-1208137594823342-9&w=425]
