Ride Report: Sgt Nicholas Turcotte – 23 – Maple Grove, MN – 12-15-06
The MN PGR gathered for staging at the Advent Lutheran Church starting at 7:30. The church was kind enough to allow us the us of their facilities to warm, use rest rooms, and provided us some hot coffee. The weather was overcast and about 28 degrees. We had 128 people attend with 25 bikes present at the staging area. Special attendees of note were 3 members of the local American Legion Post and 3 riders from WI.
The family was expected early so we had a small group of 20 go to the St Vincent De Paul church early so that there was a flag line for them to walk through. We elected to not have the main body move to the church until we knew the family was in so that we were not milling around as they arrived.
At 8:15 we had the bikes move to the church and had the balance of the group follow behind walking the 2 blocks. The PGR lined the main entrance into the church and circled the area that the hearse was in to ensure Sgt Turcotte was surrounded by flags as he was taken into the church.
As the casket was moved into the church we broke the group up to then to form on honor line in the front of the church to greet the wake and funeral visitors. Because of the cool/cold weather we also had part of the group immediately start taking warming breaks in the room the St VDP church provided. The groups in the first break didn’t want to do it but we didn’t want the entire group getting cold at the same time.
We placed the American Legion Post members at the front doors of the church on either side with American Flag and Legion Post standards. I also really like how we now handle the flags given to us by Gov Pawlenty and Senator Coleman. We have veterans handle those special colors and do a formal military exchange. It looks very impressive.
We maintained a full flag line and encouraged people to rotate out for breaks as they needed for warming. Half way through the day we had a lot of action as the cold was starting to work on people. We were also asked to form a special line in front of the hearse as the family didn’t want to have media present and filming. We were only partially successful at that based on the newscast footage but it was done to the best of our ability.
I, John Cocchiarella (SC) and Dianne Kinney (State Chaplain) entered the church during public visitation to present Mrs. Turcotte the PGR plaque. We were introduced by Sgt Brett Harcey (CAO) to Mrs. Turcotte.
As the service began at 11am we encouraged people to stand down and we maintained a minimal presence on the honor line. The Funeral Director had initially told me the church service was set for 45 minutes so we had the lines staffed at 11:30 to be ready for the honor procession. We shifted our tactics and double lined the driveway out in the direction that the hearse was going to follow. At 11:45 I went into the side room of the church where the military was stationed and found the decision was made for a full Catholic mass and they had just begun communion for 900 people. Learning point is to verify with clergy the service duration.
At just after 12pm about 400 school children left the school and lined the driveway out to the road all carrying small flags. It was very impressive to see the K-8 children all showing their patriotism.
We were not invited to the internment at Fort Snelling.
After the procession left we asked the school children to gather together and the PGR members then stood behind them. Our State Captain then gave them a small talk on the PGR and complimented them on their presence at the funeral. John then presented a folded 3x5 flag to the school to show our appreciation of what they did. We then had all the PGR members raise their flags and had pictures taken with the all the flags flying. The last 15 minutes were the best part of the day. I would suggest a similar effort when we have schools children present.
After dismissing the MN PGR all who could gathered at the Osseo American Legion Post for fellowship and sharing. |