SARASOTA
Van Eitel would have been in his glory this Veterans Day week.
His American-flag draped casket rode atop a horse-drawn black caisson Tuesday, flanked by a six-member Air Force honor guard at Sarasota National Cemetery.
The wagon driver, the single outrider and a soldier on foot all wore Union garb, reminiscent of Civil War artillery units that removed fallen officers from the battlefield.
The strains of “Amazing Grace,” played by two bagpipers at the head of the solemn procession, carried in the morning breeze under gray skies.
Walking behind the caisson was the Air Force veteran’s widow.
“He’s delighted,” Irene Eitel said. “We’re a military family, and I knew this was the place for him. This is quite an honor.”
It was the first full military caisson burial ceremony at Sarasota National Cemetery, which has had 1,386 interments since opening in January.
Van Eitel, an Air Force navigator and second lieutenant during the Korean War, died last November at 78, but his widow wanted him to be buried in a ceremony imbued with military tradition.
She got the idea from living in Virginia during her husband’s tenure with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Many of our community members were military officers,” Eitel said. “Whenever they passed away, we’d attend their funerals. I remember being in Arlington, seeing all these beautiful ceremonies with caissons. I thought this would be an honor for my husband.”
According to Sandra Beckley, the cemetery director, anyone eligible for burial in a national cemetery — veterans with an honorable discharge — can arrange for the same service through their funeral home.
It is not one of the benefits offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, she said.
Tuesday’s ceremony was arranged by the Fuller Funeral Home in Cape Coral, where the Eitels live, and the caisson was provided by Hawk’s Flight Services, Sarasota.
It culminated with a 21-gun salute by an Army National Guard unit from St. Petersburg and a mournful taps played by a sailor stationed at MacDill Air Force Base.
“This is special, to give them the honor and respect they deserve,” said Senior Airman David Glasheen, who led the honor guard from MacDill. “This is a magnificent place, too.”
An appropriate one for Van Eitel, 295 acres surrounded by ranch land, cattle and Old Florida growth.
“He was very much a country man — boots, fields, cows,” grandson Paul Lawrence said of the Kirksville, Mo., native.
“He’d be right at home,” daughter Mary McKay said.
Vin Mannix, columnist, can be reached at 745-7055, or write him at Bradenton Herald, P.O. Box 921, Bradenton, Fla. 34206.
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