By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The first time Larry Dearborn folded an American flag and handed it to a grieving widow, he wept.

“It’s how we say goodbye,” said Dearborn of the solemn ceremony once reserved for few soldiers.

In recent years, however, the number of such observances has been growing. In 2005, as many as 1,800 Maine veterans are expected to have honor guards at their funerals.

According to Maine Veterans Services, an estimated 3,500 Maine veterans will die this year. At least half will request military honors, said Peter Ogden, the agency’s director. By 2008, the deaths among Maine’s vets could surge to 3,800, pushing the number of ceremonies even higher.

At Brunswick Naval Air Station, which is among the groups providing honor guards in Maine, people from across the base have formed a 22-person team to handle the duty. Members are volunteers, ranging from aircraft mechanics to office clerks. They perform in parades and change-of-command ceremonies. And in 2004, they served at 159 funerals.

Like the state veterans leaders, Navy officials are also expecting the numbers to climb.

“Sadly, we’re expecting a big year,” said Chief Petty Officer Brian Soper, who leads the honor guard at the Navy base.

“But our biggest worry is not that we don’t have enough people to do the job,” Soper said. “Our biggest worry is that someone who served isn’t getting the honor.”

In part, it’s a matter of education.

A legal right

The honor guard system has been growing since 2000, when Congress passed legislation that made the ceremony a right of almost anyone who served honorably.

There are few restrictions. People who have been convicted of a capital crime cannot be honored, nor can people who left the service with dishonorable discharges.

Typically, details are worked out by funeral directors.

Military history becomes a matter of course as each funeral is arranged, said Peter Arsenault, who manages the Fortin Group of funeral homes in Lewiston and Auburn.

“We handle a lot of them,” he said. “A lot.”

If the family of a veteran wants military honors, the funeral director must verify that the person served. Then, the director’s request goes to the branch where that person served.

The Army, Navy or Air Force might send a team. A veterans group such as the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars might also perform the ceremony.

Heart-wrenching ritual

In most cases, the ritual is performed by two or three people.

Soper calls it “flag, fold and present.”

A flag is draped over the coffin. Taps is played. Since there are too few bugle players, an electronic bugle is often used to replicate the melody.

Then, the folded flag is presented to the next of kin.

A Vietnam veteran with John Wayne-sized shoulders, Larry Dearborn found the simple act so heart-wrenching that he didn’t try it again for five years after his first attempt.

He believes every veteran in Maine deserves the honor. And he believes the volunteers are available.

“Sometimes, we go out three times a week,” Dearborn said. “If people asked, we’d do it more.”

Nobody pays them. That’s all right, though.

“Money’s not why any of us do it,” Dearborn said. There’s something in the music and in the respect paid to a soldier that’s owed.

“You feel better when it’s done,” he said.

Breakouts>>>

Honor guards

• 3,500 Maine veterans are expected to die this year.

• As many as 1,800 are expected to request honor guards at their funerals.

• A federal law passed in 2000 gives most veterans the legal right to have honor guards.

• The ceremony involves draping a flag over the coffin, playing taps, folding the flag and presenting it to the next of kin.

For more information on military funeral honors, see the Pentagon’s Web site, www.militaryfuneralhonors.osd.mil.