As she stands at attention at the funeral of a soldier she never met, Army Staff Sgt. Nora Barraza often thinks about the soldier who will one day hand the American flag from her own coffin to one of her two daughters.

Barraza has played an official role in dozens of funerals for Army veterans "and I sometimes say to myself, 'One day this is going to be me,'" Barraza said. "So it humbles me to do this. It is truly an honor."

Barraza, 38, has regular, full-time responsibilities with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Wheeler Army Airfield. But on Wednesday she was the non-commissioned officer in charge of 21 other soldiers who honored a 79-year-old Korean War and Vietnam War veteran named James Queen Jr. of Wai'anae.

Six soldiers under Barraza's command lifted Queen's metal coffin from a hearse and escorted it to the "Committal Court" at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Six more soldiers fired three volleys from M-16 rifles in Queen's honor and Sgt. Keith Thunstedt stood beneath a tree on a hillside and blew taps across the 111-acre cemetery.

Hardly a day passes in Hawai'i without a U.S. veteran being buried or inurned in military and civilian cemeteries while active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen salute them, escort their caskets or urns and hand a meticulously folded U.S. flag to their loved ones, all courtesy of the Department of Defense.

Some, like Queen, retired after long military careers or were active duty when they died and are entitled to full military honors, including a detail of six pallbearers and a "three-gun, memorial volley" — not to be confused with a 21-gun salute — fired by seven shooters.

Others served only a few years before being honorably discharged and are eligible to have taps blown in their honor — or at least have a recorded rendition played — along with two active military members who fold and present the U.S. flag.

"It's their option. But it seems like 95 percent of (families) take advantage of the military honors for their loved ones," said Derwin Tsutsui, of Nu'uanu Memorial Park & Mortuary.

Sometimes, it's the family of the dead who insist on the tribute despite the wishes of the veteran.

"We're only doing it because the kids want it," said Andrea McClelland, who inurned her husband, retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Carl McClelland, at Punchbowl on Thursday.

Carl McClelland, of Makakilo, served 25 years in the Navy and then worked nearly as long for the City and County of Honolulu as a wastewater superintendent.

"He didn't want anything special" for his funeral, Andrea said. "He said, 'Just dump me in the garbage. I'll be dead.' But the kids insisted, so we're doing it."

Often, a military funeral helps a family with no military background more deeply understand what that time of national service meant to those who died.

"Her whole career was important to her and we know this ceremony will be something to remember and cherish," said Tim Sherry, who was making plans last week for Navy and Marine Corps services for his daughter, Holly Ann, a petty officer second class who died of cancer.

Holly Ann, 29, spent almost 11 years in the Navy and was last stationed at Ford Island. Tim and Nancy Sherry's youngest daughter, Rebecca, 22, is a senior airman at Hickam Air Force Base.

Tim Sherry owns a construction company in New Jersey and never served in the military. But he appreciates all of the efforts by the military in Hawai'i following Holly Ann's death, including a full military service at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay, where Holly Ann once worked with the Marines.

"There'll be a salute with the guns and the folding of the flags," Tim Sherry said. "I know it'll be very moving. And I know it'll be something to remember and cherish."

SALVE FOR OLD WOUNDS

A military tribute can offer a final salve for old wounds.

Harold Queen hated the war in Vietnam as a young man while his father, James, was on his way toward a 20-year Navy and Army career that took him into combat in Korea and Vietnam.

"We definitely butted heads," Harold, now 56, said last week.

But as the Army detail led by Staff Sgt. Barraza left the Punchbowl service for his father, Harold Queen stood in a black suit in the middle of the Committal Court and said, "I had never experienced anything like this up close. It was awesome. It really meant a lot."

The flag that covered Staff Sgt. Queen's coffin will be kept by his younger son, Michael, who served four years in the Air Force and left at the rank of senior airman.

Michael Queen plans to frame and hang it in his home in Ma'ili.

"It's going in a special place," Michael said.

The following day at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Army Sgt. Byram Faulk and Spc. Whitney Linde precisely folded the U.S. flag that in a few moments would lie inside Punchbowl's Committal Court beside the ashes of James Tsugio Shigeta, a World War II veteran who served in Company D, 522nd field artillery with the famed 442 Regimental Combat Team.

At the end of the service, Faulk presented Shigeta's widow with the flag and told her, "This flag is presented on behalf of a grateful nation for the faithful and honorable service rendered by your loved one."

Shigeta was a corporal who served in Europe beginning in March 1943 and was honorably discharged in January 1946. He then returned to the Islands and began a long career as a U.S. Customs supervisory inspector.

Shigeta was the oldest of four Big Island brothers who all joined the military after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

One brother, Thomas, was an Army sergeant first class who served in Korea and was inurned with military honors at Punchbowl. Another brother, Satoru, was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base and was buried with honors at Punchbowl.

A third, Dan, was an Army lieutenant from 1951 to 1953 who trained soldiers at Schofield Barracks for combat in Korea.

Unlike his brothers, Dan does not plan to have military honors when he dies.

"It was no big deal because I never served in combat myself," Dan said. "I didn't face the enemy head on. I didn't have to dodge their shelling."

But he understands why his brothers would have been happy with the military honors for them.

"The friends that you made in the service are the ties you hold forever," he said. "It's quite different than just going to school or going to college or working with somebody in an office. It's, 'I'll take care of you and I know you'll take care of me.' It can be hard to understand if you didn't serve."

Sgt. Faulk understands.

He returned from Iraq two months ago to the 70th Engineering Co. at Schofield Barracks and estimates that he has participated in 100 Army funerals in his career.

Each time, the funeral detail is given little information about the person being honored.

But during the services, Faulk often has to fight to keep his composure as he stands at attention and learns about their lives — and especially their military service.

"To hear what they did, it can be overwhelming," Faulk said.

After Faulk and his detail marched away from Punchbowl's Committal Court, Dan Shigeta said his brother would have been "pleased watching all of this. It was very impressive."

Shigeta, 78, was then asked if he would reconsider similar military honors for his own funeral some day near his home in Kahului, Maui.

After a moment to think it over, Shigeta said, "It would be very nice. It would definitely be something."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.