Patriot Guard to attend Floyd County Marine’s funeral

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

According to the Marine Corps Hymn, after they die, Marines guard the streets of heaven.

The Patriot Guard will be on hand in Charles City today (Thursday) for the funeral of Shane Wiltse, 28, of Charles City.

Wiltse was a sergeant in the Marine Corps and served in Afghanistan and Okinawa, Japan. He was killed in a traffic accident east of Charles City last Friday evening that also killed two other people and seriously injured a fourth.

A celebration of Wiltse’s life will be held at 2 p.m. today at Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charles City.

Tim Houts, ride captain, and the Patriot Guard will be at the celebration of life and inurnment at Riverside Cemetery.

“We will be escorting them to the cemetery,” Houts said. At the cemetery, Houts and the Patriot Guard will establish a flag line.

“When the Marine Corps does their honors, we also provide honors by putting the flags in front of us during that command,” Houts said. “Then we wait until the family has finished up their business at the cemetery.”

“This guy was really special,” Houts said.

“You don’t have to be a veteran to join,” he said about the group. “Most of us are veterans, but we have people who are not veterans that serve. In fact some of them are in leadership positions,” Houts said. “We will welcome anybody.”

“Sometimes family members want to stand with us,” Houts said. “We usually have enough flags for that to happen.”

Anyone that wants to stand with the Patriot Guard today is asked to show up around 12:30 p.m. at St. john Lutheran Church for a briefing on flag etiquette.