MADISON — If you love a veteran, if you have a loved one serving in the military right now, have lost a loved one while they were serving our nation or just if you respect and honor our military men and women for protecting us day and night, then hopefully you attended the annual Memorial Day Honor Guard at the Boone County Courthouse at noon on Monday, May 31.

For the past 16 years, the cadets of the Boone Composite Squadron have continued a Memorial Day tradition that was begun by a former CAP cadet, Jason Garretson. The Memorial Day Honor Guard, fashioned after the Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, is marched non-stop for 24 hours by the local cadets to honor the Boone County veterans who gave their life in service for their country. Regardless of heat, cold, rain or sun, the cadets march, beginning at midnight Sunday night and concluding at midnight on Monday night.

To highlight the purpose of the Honor Guard, a special ceremony was conducted at noon on Memorial Day on the courthouse steps. The cadets are joined by members of VFW Post 5578, to remember, by name, each soldier who died defending our freedoms. Each name is read by a cadet and, at the conclusion of the reading, the CAP Cadet Commander and two members of the FVW hang a wreath on the railing in front of the memorial statue on the courthouse lawn. Taps is played by the VFW, as all persons present take time to reflect on the ultimate price that many have paid to protect American’s freedoms.

The Boone Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol has been in operation for 53 years, serving Boone County and the State of West Virginia by providing cadet leadership training, emergency services search and rescue and aerospace education. The squadron currently has 16 active members, with only five of those members being cadets. The dedication of those five cadets will certainly be demonstrated as they divide up and march 48 thirty-minute shifts around the statue on Memorial Day.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 91 lives in fiscal year 2008. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 23,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years.

Anyone seeking more information about the local Squadron may call Major Carol Martin at 304-860-1747 or email her at vandcmartin@suddenlink.net.