A flag-draped coffin is brought to the burial plot. Family and loved ones listen to the final eulogy. An honor guard detail removes the flag from the casket and solemnly folds it into a tight triangle. After the flag is presented to the bereaved, a poppy is placed on the casket, and the guard backs up and salutes the fallen comrade.

The honor guard is called to attention. They shoulder their rifles and fire a final salute to the fallen comrade. As the last echoes from the guns fade away, the mournful sound of "Taps" from a bugler says a final farewell to a departed soldier.

This scene is re-enacted with precision by the honor guard of most military organizations. These individuals are responsible for helping to provide proper military funerals for the men and women who served their country in the military.

When a veteran passes away, it is up to the family to request a military funeral. The family must provide a copy of the veteran’s discharge papers. The only requirement for a military funeral is that the veteran be honorably discharged.

The funeral director contacts the veterans’ organization with the day, time and place of the funeral. It’s then up to the honor guard to provide the military rites.

Dempsey Lilly has participated in the King American Legion Post 290 Honor Guard for 38 years and has coordinated the honor guard for 15 years.

Lilly said that the funeral homes normally give the group a two-day’s notice, and sometimes it takes him two days to organize an honor guard, calling each of the 25 members until 16 members are committed.

This honor guard covers funerals within a 50-mile radius, which normally includes Forsyth, Stokes and Surry counties, but once traveled beyond its barrier to perform the military rites for a fallen comrade in Asheboro by a special request.

The honor guard members range in age from 60 to 88 with the average age being 76. According to Lilly, younger American Legion members are not as available to serve on the honor guard due to still being employed and earning wages to provide for their families. He admitted that the older retired members are more dependable and more prompt serving on the honor guard.

Post Commander Lane Bennett, a member of the honor guard for 15 years, said the honor guard "must include 16 members to properly handle [military rites]."

The honor guard includes two flag holders, two color guards, one who recites what the flag means, one guard to fold the flag, one to hold the folded flag, a bugler and eight on the rifle squad.

Before the firing squad fires its three volleys of gunfire, the honor guard says "Farewell our comrade," which is the signal for the riflemen.

Serving on the honor guard is not for everyone, as many become emotional during the procession.

"Whenever I see a widow crying, it sometimes makes me cry, even though I try to hold it back as much as I can," said Lilly, an admitted emotional person.

Even eight-year honor guard member Jim Rosamond admitted to becoming emotional at least once during a funeral for a close friend, Fred O. "Blue Eagle" Wilson.

A five-year member of the honor guard, Darrell Adkins, said he isn’t emotional during the funerals only because he is originally from West Virginia and not familiar with the departed or their family.

"Performing military rites is the last thing we can do for a fallen comrade, and it’s an honor to do so," said Don Adams, an honor guard member for 20 years.

Fellow honor guard member R.L. Calloway, who has served on the honor guard for less than two years, agreed. "It’s an honor to be asked by family members to do it."

The American Legion Post 290 Honor Guard performs military rites, on average, once a week, according to the members, performing as many as three a day, though not often. Within the past couple of weeks, they have performed seven funerals in eight days.

Rosamond and Bennett both agreed that more funeral activity seems to occur during the spring of each year.

When the military rites are provided, the family leaves first and the honor guard remains in place to honor the family and then cleans up, picking up the ammo shells for the family.

Frank Martin, a member for 25 years, reported that one shell is brought back from each funeral to be displayed in the Legion’s post. Along a back wall in the Legion building are plaques constructed by a fellow Legion member with a shell for each funeral in which the guard has participated.

The members of the honor guard provide their time; up to four hours per funeral including driving time, for free as the military rites is a free service for honorably discharged veterans.

"Showing our patriotism to a fallen comrade is an honor," said Martin.

"When you put on that uniform and tie, you know it’s for a fallen comrade and there’s no description for that feeling; it is an honor," said Adkins.

The military funeral itself is full of important symbols and history based on old methods used on battlefields. For example, the firing party doesn’t necessarily have to give a 21-gun salute, but it must fire three volleys to name the Trinity over the dead; others believe the rifle fire is to scare away evil spirits.

The three volleys came from an old battlefield custom. The two warring sides would cease hostilities to clear their dead from the battlefield, and the firing of three volleys meant that the dead had been properly cared for and the side was ready to resume the battle.

"Taps" was used during the Civil War to signal the end of the day’s activity, and, in 1891, "Taps" became the standard with military funeral ceremonies to mark the beginning of the long, last sleep and to express hope and confidence in an ultimate reveille to come, according to the military funeral honors Web site of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.