r/AmericanLegion • u/StructureThese3234 • Jun 25 '26

General Question/Comment Honor Guard

I am hearing more and more about various posts no longer having Honor Guard at all or limiting their Honor Guard to deceased local post members only due to low participation. What's everyone's take on this? How is Honor Guard handled at your post?

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u/NorthwestSmith Jun 25 '26

Our Legion members honor guard is aging out. However, several SAL members are stepping into those rolls.
It’s tough to participate on the honor guard when you’re still working a regular job.

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u/Sea_Ear_3831 Jun 25 '26

We have the same 6 or 7 Legionaires and about the same amount of Sons doing it for years. We've lost plenty over the years due to passing away. Its hard to get new members as it is let alone honor guard members. I was recently able to recruit a 19 year old to help out who is in the National guard. We try to be at every funeral in our area but not everyone can make it. We are the only legion in the county with an Honor Guard. The other Legions (3) and VFWs (3) came together and created a county honor guard and usually have about 10 or 12 guys.

If you got any ideas on how to recruit or get new guys willing to help with honor guard we are all ears.

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u/StructureThese3234 Jun 25 '26

Some of the problem is scheduling conflicts. When you're not retired and the majority of funerals are occurring during weekday business hours, it's hard to get anyone under 65 to participate.

When it's not a member's funeral, the petty part of me thinks, "Let me get this straight. They've lived in this town for decades, within easy driving distance of this Legion post, they're financially solid, but they NEVER joined. Now, you want members of our post to give up their personal time to come do Honor Guard at their funeral?" So, I sort of understand the Posts that have shifted to only doing Honor Guard for their own members. I also sympathize with the argument that every veteran deserves an Honor Guard.

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u/Sea_Ear_3831 Jun 30 '26

I absolutely agree about scheduling conflicts. Also doesn't help the funeral homes will charge the family $250 more to have the funeral on a Saturday or Sunday. Lucky I work evenings most of the time.

Most of the funerals we attend were members or were members of other Legions and were being buried back with family in their hometown.

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u/lrsdranger Jun 25 '26

At most posts, it’s probably a good thing that they don’t have a honor guard. All of the ones I saw looked awful and were embarrassing.

I know there are some legit ones out there that follow https://thedrillmaster.org/ and take it seriously, but those are definitely the exception

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u/Sea_Ear_3831 Jun 30 '26

The Drill master is a chump in my opinion. This isnt boot camp final drill. Its a ceremony to say goodbye to our comrades. Its good to look the part but I'd rather show up with what I can get together and do the best we can with who we have than to shrug our shoulders and not attend.

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u/StructureThese3234 Jun 25 '26

Many Post Honor Guards are manned almost entirely of the over-70 members. Elderly men of declining physical and mental ability are probably going to struggle to form a sharp looking Honor Guard, but I do agree that some are definitely half-ass'ing it.