Veteran’s Corner

Jason Hicks | Commander United Patriotic bodies
Fargo Memorial Honor Guard

With fishing opener gone and done, I can get back to everything in the way of Military honors to flag presentations at various events. There is a core group of us who do funeral honors, march in parades, and dedicate our time and efforts to promoting Americanism.
Right around the corner are two major events, one is a holiday and one is a family orientated baseball game.
Memorial Day means a lot of things to a lot of people. For us at the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard, every day is Memorial Day. But the official holiday is focused on remembering those who lost their lives for our Nation. Solem ceremonies and quiet salutes to our fallen. I’ll be sharing all of the events coming up as the date gets closer.
The next thing is Military appreciation night hosted by the FM Chamber of Commerce. Saluting our military and their families. June 4th is the official game day.
As I sit and write this article I wanted to share some facts about what we (The Fargo Memorial Honor Guard) use for every ceremony. We fire the m1 Garand rifle; it was the main US Battle rifle of both WW2 and Korea. It fires a 3006 cartridge (don’t worry we use blanks) and weighs 9 ½ lbs. It was loaned and given by us to our allies around the world during the cold war. Around 6million were made. Production started in the late 30s and went until 1956. For every ceremony we fire a 3rd volley from 7 rifles, not to be confused with the 21 gun salute (reserved for heads of state). To date we have conducted 1045 services for a total of 7315 rounds fired. We get our ammo directly from the US Army Munitions command. I am always thankful to be able to use such a fine weapon that was carried by our “Greatest Generation”, to break Nazi Germanys back and bring the Empire of Japan to full surrender. Per serial number our oldest rifle was made in May of 1942 at the Springfield armory, our “newest” rifle was made in 1954 by the International Harvester Corporation. The IHC story is a fascinating bit of cold war history. All of our rifles are property of the US Army and are loaned to us to conduct military funerals. What a Country!
Thank you fellow Americans.