By Mike Steely

steelym@knoxfocus.com

You probably saw them at Rose’s Mortuary on Broadway and Kingston Pike last Wednesday. Both locations had members of the East Tennessee Veterans Honor Guard present and people were pulling into the parking lots to visit and donate on the Day of Giving.

At the Broadway location WATE TV personalities were present to help out and cover the event.

The Veterans Honor Guard are volunteers who take their free time to attend various events for veterans and  perform military service at veteran’s funerals. They are not paid and it can be very expensive to keep up uniforms and rifles for a 21 gun salute, not to mention the expense of traveling to the site of a funeral or memorial service.

It can cost as much as $800 to outfit a volunteer and the Honor Guard was hoping to raise about $25,000 last week. At the end of the day they found they had actually raised more than $40,000.

Capt. Reid Gerhardt is president of the group, which also helps the various veterans groups in the region.  If you are interested in donating or finding out more about the Honor Guard, you can email etnvhg@gmail.com or call 865-223-3825. The mailing address is East Tenn. Veterans Honor Guard, P.O. box 22802, Knoxville, TN. 37933.

 

Members of the East Tennessee Volunteer Honor Guard are made up of people who served in all five of the military services. They are:

Army: AR Marines: MA Navy: NA Air Force: AF Coast Guard: CG

CG- Fred Adomat

AF- Ralph Almon Tech Sgt

AF- Jack Bradshaw Sgt

MA- Elizabeth Carr Sgt

NA- Noel Cotton CPO

NA-George Deichert

AF- Mark Fellows Ssgt

AF- Earl Fortner Msgt

AF- Bob Freels Msgt

AR- Reid Gerhardt Captain – ETVHG President

AF- Stewart Hall Ssgt

AR- William Hams Ssgt

NA- Butch Houston CPO

NA- Patrick Hudson

AR- Bob Hutchins Ssgt

AF- Dave Johnson Msgt

AF- Mark Jones Ssgt

MA- Tony Joyce Sgt

MA- Gary Kaplan Sgt

NA- Mark Kohring Captain

NA Herb Kraehmer CTI

AR- Mark McDonald Colonel

MA- Nancy McEntee Cpl

NA- Adrian Marsh CPO

NA- Michael Metzner CPO

AR- Jack Palmer Sp4

AR- Jay Palmer Sp4

AF- Gene Patton Ssgt

AF- Roger Phillips Lt. Colonel

AR- Don Roland Msgt

AF- Gordon Smith Tsgt

AR- Scott Smith Cpl

NA- John Speck CPO

AF- Paul Trotter Tsgt

AR- Fred Vitto Ssgt

CG- Steve Wickizer Captain

AF- Wayne Wolf Msgt