Cordon of Honor

Yesterday I had the opportunity to show my respect to a fellow coworker at the fire department and his family for the loss of their beautiful daughter, who was mentally and physically handicapped, earlier this week to pneumonia. This coworker is not only my fellow brother in the fire department, but he is also the director of the medic program at the college and a former instructor of mine who has been very influential in my EMS career. Being at the funeral yesterday was the very least I could do to show him and his beautiful wife my respect for them. Our new Chief of the department was gracious enough to allow us to do an informal Cordon of Honor at the funeral to show our respect to the family. Generally at a fire department funeral, a Cordon of Honor is done with department personnel in class A uniforms forming a line from the funeral home/church to the hearse in full salute as a flag draped coffin passes by. They again will do this from the hearse to the grave site as well. Because this was a family member and not a flag draped coffin, as well as most of us (except for the 12 full time members of the department) don’t have class A uniforms, we instead stood at attention forming those same lines in our regular uniforms. Though not as formal, it was still quite a site to see. We also had the honor of leading the procession with an ambulance and engine from our department and an ambulance and engine from the college, along with two other department vehicles all with lights flashing down one of the very busy streets of town to the cemetery with as many police officers (college, city, and county) as they could round up to stop traffic for us along the way. I had the honor of driving our department ambulance and I remember looking in my rear view mirror at one point quite humbled by the site of flashing lights behind me.

I can’t help but think about the comfort and peace the gospel brings to our lives at such a sorrowful time in this mortal life. Though we mourn for the death of a loved one, I’m grateful for the knowledge of knowing that there is life after death. I know that children under the age of accountability and those who are mentally handicapped truly are perfect spirits and are not judged for their actions in this life, but instead are given full celestial glory when they return home to their Heavenly Father in a perfect state. I can only imagine how happy it must be for their beautiful daughter, now free of her imperfect mortal body, in a perfect state and surely their guardian angel that will always be looking out for her family during their mortal journey in this life. Since I am now a mother myself, things hit a little closer to home for me. But I still truly can’t imagine how hard it must be to lose a child and I pray I may never have to feel that sorrow. I’m truly grateful for the knowledge of the gospel, and the mercy and love God has for his children.