DGPD Honor Guard Formed to Pay Respects to Village, Country and Fallen Peers

The pride in his voice is almost palpable. As Police Chief Robert Porter talks about the process culminating in the establishment of a department honor guard, he is unabashedly pleased with his department’s initiative.

“The idea circulated at the patrol level and I let them run with it. They’ve done an outstanding job,” he said.

The newly formed honor guard debuted this spring, first at the department’s awards ceremony and then at the annual memorial ceremony held for fallen Downers Grove Police Officer Richard Barth, on May 16.

There, the honor guard was introduced to members of the police department as well as representatives of the fire department, Village Council, village staff, residents and surviving relatives of Barth. The memorial was held during National Police Week.

 In the past, when the presence of an honor guard was appropriate, a group was assembled “piecemeal” with representatives from honor guards of other departments.

“We’d have to bring people in to help us with or ceremony,” said Downers Grove Police Sergeant Paul Lichamer, who is coordinating the group. “We would have liked it to be our own people.” 

With 79 sworn officers, the DGPD is among the largest in southern DuPage County. “It was kind of surprising for a department our size not to have one,” Lichamer said. “It’s a way of paying respect. It’s a dignified way of honoring our country or municipality and honoring fallen peers.”

Police Officer David Franklin approached Porter with the idea of launching an honor guard as the Barth Memorial event was approaching. “It’s absolutely fitting that, when we have our own law enforcement memorial services, that we have our own staff as part of the ceremony, rather than having honor guards from other towns,” Porter said. “That was a big issue with a lot of the officers.”

Porter threw his support behind the program, but left it to the department to head up and coordinate. Asset forfeiture funds were accessed for the minimal start-up costs.

Once Porter gave the go-ahead, an email was circulated to the department to identify people interested in serving in the honor guard.  Officers Jim Minett, Tom Powers, Brian Mitera, John Yocum, Jim Edwards, Scott Beck and Mike Eddy were selected.

“Some of them had military honor guard experience,” Lichamer said. “My assistant coordinator, Jim Minett, was a Marine, and part of the Marine Honor Guard. He knows all of the movements, cadences and the calls. He rapidly trained us to bring us where we were for the Barth ceremony.”

After the honor guard was established, “we had a short amount of time to get our uniforms and to train properly," Lichamer said. "We use military etiquette in performing.” 

The training was extensive and arduous. “We had to learn the basic movements, " he said. "How to walk and how to turn and how to be in unison. For instance, when we’d say ‘left face,’ everyone had to turn precisely and unified. We had to be perfect. When you have never done it before it’s hard to learn.” 

The men practiced on their own time—eight or nine hours each week, with more practice sessions scheduled right before the Barth memorial.

 “They wanted it to be perfect and it was," Lichamer said. "It’s difficult to do. If your ear itches, you can’t scratch it. If there’s a bug on your nose you can’t swat it.  You can’t move. You have to stay in form for the entire event. The guys holding the flags had muscle fatigue. It’s challenging,” 

Several of the members of the DGPD Honor Guard traveled to Washington, D.C., for National Police Officers Memorial Week. “They represented our agency. They went to see the memorial events and changing of the guard and a candlelight vigil for fallen officers,” Lichamer said. The men also viewed Richard Barth’s name on the memorial wall.

Establishment of the honor guard holds deep meaning for the Downers Grove Police Department. “We’re trying to expound upon the important of our profession. To bring some honor to our profession, "Lichamer said. "Sometimes during our day-to-day policing, we forget what we’re really here for.

"We write tickets, deal with broken homes and domestic situations, we see death and deal with violent crimes. We see that kind of stuff every day," he said. "The thought behind the honor guard was to instill some pride and remember what we’re really here for…to serve and protect.”

Lichamer said the feedback after the honor guard’s first two appearances has been overwhelmingly positive. “These guys trained hard for what we had to do. It really showed. We nailed it,” he said. He hopes the honor guard will be invited for appearances at other “significant events.”

 “This is a really nice program,” said Porter, explaining that it instills pride in the profession and department and boosts morale. “The staff really took ownership of the program, and they’re very happy to have it in place.”

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