LEBANON, Ohio — The Southwest Ohio VFW Memorial team is celebrating 60 years of providing final military salutes to veterans.
Formed in April 1966 in Lebanon, the all-volunteer team of veterans performs nearly 200 services each year.
"For 60 years, there has been an unbroken chain of community service providing a final military salute," Commander Randy Fannin said.
The 13-minute services include spoken and flower tributes, a chaplain's prayer, a rifle volley, the sounding of "Taps" and the presentation of a folded flag and spent shell casings to the families.
WATCH: The Southwest Ohio VFW Memorial team celebrates 60 years
"Almost every time we get the hugs, you know, it takes this task of providing a final military salute and giving the flag and makes it personal when we get to be able to know something a little bit about this loved one who served once upon a time long ago," Fannin said.
Jeffrey Lewis, an Army veteran who served in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, is second in command. During his service, he had a special assignment on a remote island 860 miles southwest of Hawaii that was only half a mile by two miles wide. He joined the memorial team after they provided honors for his father.
"My father died in 2018. And this team provided military honors for him, and when I saw the professionalism of this team, that's immediately, I said I want to join," Lewis said.
"(I'm) incredibly blessed and honored to be on such a great team with such great people," Lewis said.
Phil Wingate is the longest-serving member of the team and serves as Officer of the Day.
He still remembers the first time he personally spoke with a family at the cemetery.
"That was very emotional for me at the time because, uh, I never really presented a flag before. You had, you know, you're looking right into somebody's eyes and tears are rolling down their cheeks and everything, and it gets, it gets to you after, you know, just the first time," Wingate said.
The team consists of more than 20 volunteers, ranging in age from their 30s to their late 60s. They work with more than 25 funeral homes, cemeteries and local veteran service offices, often receiving just two or three days' notice for a service.
"We asked the guys, 'are you available? Yay or nay?' And all they have to do is say yay or nay, and we have never had to say no," Fannin said.
Fannin spent 30 years as a chaplain at Bethesda Hospital and in the Army Reserve, but he said these last five years on the team are extra special.
"To be able to develop a relationship, make friends with other veterans and to provide a meaningful service to families. It just, it can't be beat," Fannin said.
The team is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a banquet at the Spring Grove Funeral Home on Tuesday.
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