November 10, 2003

Dear Dom,

I am not sure if you have heard about this from Narda or Millie but on September 26 of this year, the Air Force had an official ceremony to bury the remains of the active duty military people that died on March 6, 1968 in the airplane that Noel was on. It was a group burial and Noel and his crewmate, William Anselmo were the last two people on the plane that were laid to rest. Since the Air Force had been able to identify all the other remains on the airplane well before this ceremony, the only remains left to be buried were Noel’s and William Anselmo’s. While the Air Force could not definitively say the remains were those of Noel and Anselmo, they had conclusively identified everyone else. Since Noel and Anselmo were known to be on the aircraft and there were 2 sets of inconclusively identified remains, the remains were finally declared to be theirs and the burial ceremony finally set up to take place. There were 30 Marines, 1 Navy Seaman, 4 US Air Force Airmen and 1 civilian on the airplane, a C-123 Cargo Master.

The Air Force conducted the burial ceremony. There were 23 Air Force airmen and officers, including an Air Force chaplain in the ceremony. They did a 21 gun salute, 3 volleys of 7 shots each, during the ceremony. After the chaplain finished his remarks, the flags used during the ceremony were folded by the color guard and handed to Noel’s wife (Dolores) and to Anselmo’s mother by the Air Force Senior Master Sergeant controlling all the ceremonial troops. As he kneeled and handed the flag to Dolores and Anselmo’s mom, he expressed the personal gratitude of the president of the United States and the country for their ultimate sacrifice.

As if that wasn’t enough drama, the reunion of Noel’s children with their dad’s side of the family had taken place the night before. It was the first time that Noel’s daughter and son had met any of us and those feeling and thoughts were all mixed in with the Air Force burial ceremony finally conducted after almost 35 years of waiting by the families present. All in all it was an amazing couple of days.

I am attaching some pictures from the ceremony with some identifying information about each one. I am not sure how much space you have on the web site but use whatever you can. Feel free to rewrite any of this to make it fit

Air Force Ceremonial troops marching into position for the burial ceremony. The lead soldier for each group of 6 troops holds a U.S. flag clutched to their chest.

The Air Force chaplain presents the official death certificate to Noel’s wife. Noel’s daughter, Helene is on her mother’s right and his son Mark Lauer is on her left.

The group burial stone. Noel’s name is at the bottom center. His birth date was incorrectly engraved on the bronze so the Air Force put a temporary plate over it with the correct birthday. The entire plaque will be redone with the correct date and then reinstalled on the stone.

A close up of Noel’s name.

Presentation of the flag to Noel’s wife. Seated to her right is Noel’s daughter Helene, Noel’s son Mark, then on down the line, Millie, Iraida (you can see her glasses) and myself. Yvette, Millie’s daughter is standing behind Narda and Helene’s son John is standing behind her.

Part of the Air Force color guard.