Cpl Ryan L. Pape, USMC, East Grand Forks, MN, 11, 12 DEC 09



Mission complete.

Seven Patriot Guard members from Minnesota and North Dakota faced subzero windchill on the Friday, December 11th visitation for Cpl Ryan L. Pape. Many family members and fellow Marines came out to thank us and make sure we were doing okay. The church provided a room for us to warm up. During the prayer service we all gathered to listen to the memorials from a speaker in another room. After the service we returned to our post and stood guard as Cpl Pape was escorted from the church. We dismissed around 8:30pm. Thanks to Geneo and Cindy for coming up from the Cities.

The next day we staged at the American Legion in East Grand Forks. Twenty members were present. We carpooled to the church and were in formation by 11:45 am. The funeral was from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. During the service we again gathered in the warm-up room to get out of the subzero weather with approx. 30 below windchill. Following the service we posted again until Cpl Pape was escorted to the hearse by approximately 40 Marines and VFW Honor Guard. We proceeded the funeral procession by approximately five minutes to post at the rural cemetary. We were surprised how many people came to the burial services due to the increasingly cold weather conditions. We remained until Cpl Pape was lowered into his final resting place. Thanks to Vinnie and Clint for coming up from St. Cloud.

(@) Obituary

(@) PGR National Thread

A big thanks to all the Patriot Guard members who braved the weather to help the Papes through this tragic loss of their second son. Ron and Shar Pape extend their thanks to the Patriot Guard.

Gary Metcalf
RCIC