A1C. Robert Pederson, 19 USAF, Minneapolis, MN, 08 APR 10



The funeral of Airman 1st Class Robert Pederson was completed with 37 PGR in attendance, 32 on motorcycles. Flag Line Honors was lined in front of Hillside Cemetery Chapel, with all the bikes lining the drive in front of the main entrance door for the visitation. Robert’s Grandfather stopped by looking at the flagline and motorcycles with tears, introduced himself and thanked us from the bottom of his heart for being there.

We had also been invited to stay for the interment, so after a short break we arranged our flagline around the burial site which was about 40 yards from the chapel. We had the honor to perform this mission with 21 Air Force Honor Guard and about 20 Air Force men and women, all from the Grand Forks Air Base. The PGR surrounded the interment site leaving the west side open so the family and guests had a clear view of the Air Force’s Riffle Honor Guard.

As usual the PGR knew exactly what to do making it a beautiful site when the Air Force carried Robert from the chapel to the interment site. During the interment ceremony three of us presented the family with a plague. Both my partners that I had the honor of presenting the plaque with seemed speechless from the experience. It is a tough and emotion job to step into someone’s life at their darkest time and be face to face with the mom of the fallen.

Robert’s Step Father invited all of the PGR into the luncheon after the services, of which we told him that that was family time and thanked him for the offer.

It was an honor working with the Air Force to make this a memorable time for the family and friends. I think everything went perfect at this mission, We would be honored to work with the Air Force in the future when invited.

Thank you Robert and all that attended,

(@) Obituary

(@) PGR National Thread

God Bless
Tim Leonhardt