FINAL INSPECTION

Shortly following World War I, the United States Government granted all Honorably Discharged Veterans the right to receive Full Military Honors upon their death. This dedicated group of local Marines has been voluntarily conducting final honor ceremonies throughout King County for the past 29 years.

     In 1986, the Leatherneck Honor Guard was originally formed as an independent detail (not affiliated with the Marine Corps League) with its own unique uniformed designed by its first Commander John DesJarlais.  In September 2017, the Leatherneck Honor Guard disbanded as an independent detail and concurrently reformed as a program of the Marine Corps League Puget Sound Detachment 336 and adopted the MCL Uniform regulations.

     The members of the Honor Guard earned the right to execute military honors in such places as Iwo Jima, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters of combat.

 MILITARY CEREMONY

     The short honor ceremony includes appropriate readings, three rifle volleys, playing of taps, folding and presentation of the flag. This significant acknowledgement of the deceased’s service to their country is available for the family of all former Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, or Coast Guard members.

PRACTICE OF FIRING THREE RIFLE VOLLEYS

     This practice originated as a custom of halting the fighting during a battle, so the dead could be moved from the battlefield. Once each Army cleared the dead and buried their solders, they would fire three volleys of rifle fire over the graves to indicate that the dead had been cared for and they were ready to go back to the fight.

THE PLAYING OF TAPS     

     Taps is an American Bugle call, composed by the Union Army’s Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield while in camp at Harrison’s Landing Virginia, in 1862. Butterfield wrote the call to replace the earlier “Tattoo” (lights out), which he thought too formal. The call soon became known as “Taps” because it was often tapped out on a drum in the absence of a bugler.

FLAG

     The Flag will be folded into a triangular shape with only the blue field with stars showing. The shape of the flag when completely folded takes on the appearance of a Cocked Hat, reminding us of the hats worn by the soldiers, sailors and marines that served under General George Washington and Captain John Paul Jones during the Revolutionary War. These men fought to preserve for us the Rights, Privileges and Freedoms that we all enjoy.