You see them at many veterans' funerals. Dressed in military-style uniforms, they fire off their guns in tribute to their deceased comrades in arms.
They are the Honor Guard and they have been preforming the solemn ritual in this area for almost 70 years.
"It began in the late 1950s, started by Charlie Hodge, I think," said John Holland, a member of the current group. "A nucleus of them came out of the National Guard and it evolved over the years."
These men who serve this area attend funerals within a 100 mile radius of Poplar Bluff. That keeps them pretty busy.
The number of funerals they service in a year fluctuates.
"When I first joined roughly 10 years ago," Holland said, "the high mark for funerals in one year was 140. A year or so later we were doing 160 to 170. Three years ago it was 203, then dropped back to 197 in 2015, then last year back down to upper 170s. This year, our fiscal year starts 1 Dec., so this is our 10th month and we are doing our 181st funeral today (Sept. 23) with two full months and change to add to that. We really thought we had peaked out 2-3 years ago, but apparently that was incorrect."
The Honor Guard is sponsored by the Brown Mabry American Legion Post 153 in Poplar Bluff.
"We get all our ammunition from them," Holland said. "We have all our weapons and uniforms stored there. In order to draw ammunition we have to have a sponsoring group and when we put in a requisition for resupply, it goes through them."
Obtaining an Honor Guard for a veteran's funeral starts with the funeral homes.
"All funeral homes are briefed on the procedures," Holland said. "They send a fax to the adjutant general in Jefferson City. When they get the request, they determine which veterans service group they should contact to do the funeral and they contact you."
The survival of the group depends on contributions to help them with gasoline and other expenses. Contributions come from veterans organizations, funeral homes and survivors of deceased veterans.
"If we can do a funeral, we'll do it," Holland said, pointing out that they sometimes have two, maybe three funerals in a day. "Some honor guards will turn you down."
Currently, the local Honor Guard has 14 members.
"We are able to field two groups and we do that rather frequently," Holland said. "Three people is the bare minimum. We try to take six, that's five rifles and one person in charge giving commands.
"I've got a group of really dedicated men," Holland said.
Including Holland, the group consists of John Cook, Norman Morgan, Calvin Williams, Earl Pennington, Doug Wujcik, Warren Kerber, Tim Thursday, Larry Thompson, Glendol Garrett, Rawland Thompson, Tom Neal, Richard Deason and Billy Becker.
Pennington said he joined the Honor Guard after a casual encounter with Holland.
"John was on his way to one and we met and he hit me up to join," Pennington said. "I went down to observe and joined up. I've been doing it for 8-10 years now. I have done as many as four in one day. You can do that if they are in Bloomfield (Veterans Cemetery) because it's all in one place, otherwise, you can't do over two.
"I did one funeral and a Cajun gal came out and did a little voodoo hex on us," he laughed.
Garrett has been with the Honor Guard "about 1 1/2 years.
"I was going to volunter with the VA," Garrett said, "but didn't want to do it every day so the Honor Guard was it.
"It's an honor to do it, honoring the soldiers anywhere from WWII to Afghanistan."
Deason did military funerals for three years while serving with the National Guard.
"When I got out in 2004 they asked me to do the Honor Guard. I feel like I put in 23 years in service, it was kinda my duty. I enjoy it."
Deason earned the veterans volunteer of the year award in 2015.
Joining the Honor Guard is easy.
"If any veteran is interested in serving with us, I would be delighted to talk to them," Holland said. "We are always looking for additional personnel. We have guys that have personal things that come up, medical issues at times. It's always good to have a talent base that you can call on. The more the better.
"We would take them through it step by step and let them see us in action and then they can make a decision if they want to become a member or not."
To inquire about joining, persons can contact Holland at 686-6711 or 429-5967 or, "if you know any member of the Honor Guard you can contact them and they can get the ball rolling."