GLENNVILLE, Ga. — A South Georgia funeral director says a recent struggle to secure a rifle volley for a decorated Vietnam veteran may be over for one family, but his effort to change what he believes is an unfair Navy funeral honors policy is just beginning. Bradley B. Anderson, owner and funeral director of Glennville Funeral Home and Low Country Cremation and Burial, said he was assisting the family of a retired service member who had served 20 years in the military — 12 years in the U.S. Army and eight years in the U.S. Navy.
The veteran served two combat tours in Vietnam and received three Purple Hearts, according to Anderson. When the family requested military funeral honors, Anderson said he learned the Navy would provide the flag-folding ceremony and Taps, but a Navy rifle detail would not travel to the funeral because it was outside a 50-mile service area from Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. “If it’s 51 miles, I can’t bring the guns. Forty-nine miles, I can,” Anderson told Hazlehurst Now. “That’s just not right.”
Anderson said his experience arranging military funerals has been different with the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, which he said have been able to provide additional honors for retirees at greater distances. “No one can tell me why the Navy is the only one,” he said.
After the Navy rifle detail was unavailable, Anderson took his frustration to social media. His post quickly spread across South Georgia, drawing more than 1,000 shares and prompting offers of assistance from veterans, farmers, pulpwood workers and others.
Anderson said a veterans organization in Montgomery County offered the rifles needed for the ceremony. He retrieved them and then contacted VFW Post 7764 in Reidsville, whose members assembled a team to perform the rifle volley. The Patriot Guard also assisted with pallbearer duties, Anderson told HN.
In the end, the veteran received the additional honor his family had requested. Members of VFW Post 7764 have since been recognized for stepping in despite not previously having an established rifle team. Local reporting confirms that rifles were obtained through Montgomery County VFW Post 10229 and that the Reidsville group assembled the team for the funeral.
For Anderson, however, finding a solution for one funeral wasn’t enough. “Everybody says, ‘Well, you should be done with it. The guy got his volley.’ No, it’s not over with,” Anderson told HN. “It’s going to be over with when we get this rule changed.”
Anderson said he has spoken with U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Rick Allen about the situation and that their offices made calls seeking assistance before the funeral. The issue has also attracted media attention outside South Georgia, including coverage of Anderson’s concerns about the reported mileage limitation. Anderson said he intends to continue seeking answers about the Navy’s policies and whether changes could make additional funeral honors more accessible to retired sailors who are buried farther from Navy installations.
His argument comes back to the veteran whose funeral started the discussion. “He didn’t ask if Vietnam was 50 miles from where he lived,” Anderson told HN. “He went. He served. He did his duty.”
Anderson is also currently a candidate for Georgia House District 157. He told Hazlehurst Now that he deliberately raised the funeral honors issue through his personal social media account rather than his campaign platform because he does not view it as a partisan matter. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat, Republican or what you are,” Anderson said. “You deserve it.”
For Anderson, the immediate mission was accomplished: the veteran received the rifle volley his family wanted. The larger mission, he says, continues.
