The Old Guard. It’s the time-honored name of the Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, a name that conveys duty and tradition. The mission shows respect and gives solace.
For Everett native Michael Callaghan-McCann, the Old Guard was his first duty station. Now, 26 years later, serving in the Old Guard is the capstone on a proud military career that has taken him to Korea, Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan.
“In my battalion, the primary mission is memorial affairs,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Callaghan-McCann, 51, who is with the regiment’s 1st Battalion. “We represent the Army to the Army family.”
Based at Fort Myers, Virginia, his battalion spends much of its time on funeral duty at Arlington National Cemetery, where each day as many as 25 services are held. Another Old Guard battalion focuses on ceremonial events that tell the Army’s story and represent the Army to the nation, he said.
Other Old Guard members stand guard 24 hours a day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington, or serve as official escorts to the president. They may be part of the Army Drill Team or belong to the Caisson Platoon that leads horses pulling a caisson carrying flag-draped caskets.
“What we do every day helps people with the grieving process by paying final respects to our service members who have fallen,” Callaghan-McCann said in a recent phone interview.
A 1981 graduate of Everett High School, Callaghan-McCann joined the Army after earning a degree in history from Western Washington University. At Western, he rowed on the crew team and planned to become a teacher. During his last year of college, he had second thoughts about teaching. He joined the Army in 1988 and made it his career.
During basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, he learned about the Old Guard. Its requirements — including height, test scores, citizenship and background — exceed those for regular Army duty. Callaghan-McCann said the Army wants soldiers for the Old Guard who qualify for the security clearance needed for ceremonies at the White House and the Pentagon.
With service stretching back to 1784, the Old Guard is the Army’s oldest active-duty infantry unit. Callaghan-McCann spent about six years with the Old Guard as a young soldier. His sister, Bridget Galusha, remembers attending his wedding in a chapel at Arlington, which is in Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
Callaghan-McCann and his wife, Tanya, have two daughters and a son, ages 18, 20 and 21. All three graduated from Vilseck High School on a base in Germany where their father was stationed.
Callaghan-McCann joined the Army during peacetime, but 13 years later came the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. With a young family, he was deployed twice to Iraq and most recently, in 2010 and 2011, to Afghanistan. He was in infantry positions each time.
“As a family, as afraid as we were, we knew that’s the career he chose and we always supported that,” said Galusha, who lives in Arlington, Washington.
In his early years with the Old Guard, Callaghan-McCann said there were still a few funerals at Arlington National Cemetery for World War I veterans. Now, the World War II generation is passing away.
Callaghan-McCann, who returned to the Old Guard in May, has been a witness to history. He remembers Jan. 20, 1993, the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton. The new president went right past him as he reached out to shake hands while walking down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
On Thursday, Callaghan-McCann was at Arlington National Cemetery when Britain’s Princess Anne came to unveil a bronze plaque honoring Americans for their valor during World War I. The daughter of Queen Elizabeth II also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
Callaghan-McCann is now the senior enlisted adviser for his battalion’s commander.
“When I was here as a young soldier, we spent hours prepping our uniforms and rehearsing drills and ceremony. The last thing you want to do is be that guy who makes a mistake,” he said. Today, he has come full circle and is there as a leader.
“One thing, as I look back on my career, is the sense of family, the brotherhood and sisterhood we have with other soldiers,” he said.
At somber graveside services, he has folded American flags that covered caskets, and has presented flags to grieving loved ones. The presenter of the flag depends on the rank of the deceased. In the Old Guard, he said he has learned to tuck his emotions “away in a little box.”
“What we do here on a daily basis, it’s not the end all and be all of healing and closure, but I know that it helps. My wife’s father is buried here,” Callaghan-McCann said. “I know what we do here matters.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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