Local Amvets Honor Guard honors veterans at various events

You may have seen them at the Edison Festival of Light or at a solemn graveside service or leading the opening day ceremony for the local softball league. The members of Amvets Post 81 Honor Guard have been extremely active in community, participating at many recent events to honor veterans throughout the area.
Jack Wadell coordinates the group’s activities.
“We do memorial services, gravesite services, flag retirements and flag displays, among other events,” he said. “We’re very active. We think we are the most active guard in Southwest Florida.”
All of their services are free, with donations accepted.
“It’s veterans helping veterans,” he said.
Their presence isn’t only known to their home base area of North Fort Myers. They’ve been in all surrounding areas. “
“In fact, we led with the colors at the Edison Festival of Lights Parade recently,” said Dennis Densmore, another dedicated member of the guard.
Many of the ceremonies take place in Buccaneer Estates, home to many of the participants.
“At Buccaneer Estates, we do every major military event, including Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Pearl Harbor Day,” said Al Peirolo, guard member and the Buccaneer Estates Memorial Garden Coordinator. On March 26, they will do a flag retirement. “There we will properly retire the colors.”
The Memorial Garden is a work in progress, they noted. Paver bricks have been placed in honor of veterans of many military conflicts in a special area there, landscaped around an American flag with a bench for meditation.
The guard’s most recent ceremony at Buccaneer Estates included a POW/MIA remembrance ceremony, said Pat Schroat.
“My husband Tom is the national chaplain for the U.S. Marine Corp League and we hosted the event. It’s an important cause and we’ve been doing it for years,” she said.
It’s also called The Missing Man’s Honor Ceremony.
“Everything on the table has a special significance,” she said. “It’s set like a dining table. A white tablecloth symbolizes purity of their (POW’s) intentions to response to their country’s call to arms, and a slice of lemon is on a bread plate to remind us of the bitter fight. Glasses are inverted because they can’t toast with us today, and a rose is displayed so families and loved ones will keep the faith, waiting for their return.”
She shared recent statistics she had gathered for the event. According to the Department of Defense, the numbers of those still missing include 78,000 from World War II, 8,200 from Korea, 125 from the Cold War, 1,742 from Vietnam, and one each from the Gulf War and Iraq.
“Each year in April we go to Melbourne, Fla., and pull security for the Vietnam Traveling Wall,” she continued. “That’s for three days. I can’t tell you how it feels. It’s a feeling of satisfaction.”
Sandra Wadell is also an active guard member.
“The funds we make during the year and the donations are all meant to get us to the wall,” she said. “That’s out main goal every year.”
Her husband Jack started in the guard in 1998 and Sandra joined him in 2003.
Another member of the guard is Ellen LaRochelle.
“I do this to honor my late husband, Master Sgt. Mark La Rochelle,” she said. “I am also a gold star wife – which means my husband was killed in active duty. It was in 1990 – just prior to Desert Storm. He was in Special Forces.”
She speaks at many functions about her personal experiences with the military. She said she can empathize with the military wives of today.
“You need a lot of support from friends and family because your husband is gone a lot,” she said.
Another female member of the guard is Carole Ahmad.
“The main reason I do this is because my husband is a veteran,” she said of fellow guard member Walter Ahmad. “I also support the VA Outpatient Clinic in Fort Myers.”
She said the most important part of that support is simply human contact. “The veterans come and have coffee and tell their stories.”
Husband Walter Ahmad is honor guard captain.
“I do this mostly because I served in Vietnam,” he said. “I feel an obligation; I saw a lot of guys get killed – I was in a combat unit.”
Jerry Cavender is a bugler for the guard, and proudly dresses in a historic patriot’s uniform.
“I was in the 8th Army Honor Guard in the Armed Forces in Seoul, Korea, so this is not new to me,” he said.
He’s been participating in local guard activities for several years.
“You will never be with a better group of people, we are all here for the same reason,” he said.
Gary “G.W.” Blanton explained why he finds being a member of the guard important.
“I do it to honor veterans and the price it has caused our brother and sisters,” he said. He served at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and had two brothers in Vietnam. “They came out OK.”
The guard is available for community events and services. If you would like to have the guard attend an event or memorial service, or would like more information, call Wadell at 656-1685.