Putting yourself in another set of shoes

July 8, 2007
Andy Boyle, Erie Times-News in Erie, Penn.

I worked Saturday on a cops shift, my first one at the paper. It involves typing a lot of brief stories, calling 60 different cops locations and sitting around. But you also get to cover a live event. Mine was to cover a funeral of a soldier. The story is below. I don't want to give too much away, but I'd like to discuss how I wrote it.

I think it's one of the best stories -- if not the best -- that I've written since I've gotten here.

Read and then I'll discuss more afterward:

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Soldier's body returns home Long journey for World War II veteran ends at Girard cemetery

By ANDY BOYLE

GIRARD -- Nancy Donald looked down when the three rifle shots rang out at the Girard cemetery Saturday. Those shots originated from an old military custom of halting the fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield.

That's just what happened to Donald's uncle, U.S. Airman Sgt. Richard Sargent.

On April 16, 1944, during World War II, Sargent and 10 other airmen hit bad weather while heading home to a U.S. Army Air Force base in Nadzab, New Guinea.

Their B-24 bomber went down and was missing for 57 years until it was found and recovered.

Sargent and the other 10 soldiers were identified in April. He had been declared dead in 1946. And now 63 years after the bomber crashed, it was time to come home to Girard. Spectators lined the streets, some standing in front of motorcycles holding American flags and dressed in biker gear. Others were wearing high school ROTC garbs or veteran hats. Lawn chairs were set up and people were watching from their porches.

The bikers came from New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland. A couple were from Florida. They were the Patriot Guard Riders, about 80 strong, and they came to pay their respects.

"It's a little sad, but also joyous," said one rider, David Cullen. "He's finally coming home."

Sargent's flag-draped casket was taken out of the funeral home and put onto a horse drawn carriage. The police signaled for traffic to stop, and the final leg of his long sojourn home began.

He traveled down Church Street. Family, veterans and Patriot Guard followed him on foot. Men and women on the sides of the street snapped to salute as Sargent passed. Others took pictures with cell phones and cameras.

He entered the cemetery to strains of John Williams "Hymn to the Fallen." The music fit -- it's from "Saving Private Ryan."

Daniel Edder, the funeral director, said he remembers what was going through his mind when the casket came off the plane in Cleveland.

"It's been such a long road for Richard," he said, his voice wavering in front of the cemetery crowd. "Amen -- he's home."

The honor guard lifted the flag off the casket. They started to fold it in slow, deliberate movements, making sure it was packed tight. It had to be perfect, with one honor guardsman stating, "This flag represents duty, honor, custom." The flag was to be given to Donald. An honor guardsman inspected it, making some final touches and pulling it tight.

Then he slipped in three rifle shells from that old military custom of firing. One last inspection, and then the slow, deliberate walk to Donald.

Donald nodded as he handed her the flag. Her eyes welled up.

Her uncle was finally home.

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I showed up ten minutes before the funeral started at the funeral home and walked around. I wore a nice suit and tie since it was a funeral, which I think helped people open up to me more. I just started walking around and took notes of everything. I talked to some veterans, some ROTC kids and some of the Patriot Guard bikers.

I wrote descriptions of the people, the horses and everything. I took down street names, addresses and even a few names of cops directing traffic.

Almost everything I wrote down didn't end up in the story. I interviewed about 12 people, but I didn't use any of them. Just one guy -- everything else I wrote from just listening to the ceremony.

When the procession started, I wrote down everything the honor guard said. I wrote their movements down and went step by step with them.

I followed the group down Church Street, listening to bystanders and writing down what they were doing and what they said.

I ended up standing near the family and listened to a lot of what was said during the ceremony. I watched their reactions -- most didn't make it into the story. I didn't want to clutter it with too many names, too many facts or too man quotes.

The niece spoke to the media near the end and we all asked a couple of questions. I didn't use anything she said because what she did I thought was more meaningful.

While I was driving the 30 minutes back, I just thought about what I'd use in my story. I had details about the bagpipe player, the trumpet players, everything. I was really scared because I thought this story had the potential to be really good and I didn't want to do a disservice to the man or his family.

I got back to work and breathed deep. I decided to put myself in the frame of mind of "If a journalist was covering my funeral, what would I want them to do?"

And it came natural from that. I looked up some stuff about military funerals, and then bam -- the three shots and why they did them. And it just flowed from there.

Then I started freaking out because I had 10 inches of good stuff but I had no clue how to end it. Then I remembered something my editor told me about trying to match the beginning with the end. I was thinking about ending it with a good quote this general said at the ceremony, but I thought that wasn't how it should end.

I decided since I was writing it in a more narrative style, it should end that way. And I tied the beginning to the end, edited out a bunch of stuff and handed it in.

I wish I could be the type of writer I was yesterday all of the time.

	Andy Boyle will be a senior broadcasting and news-editorial major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this fall. He is working at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Penn., this summer, and during the fall he will work as the Daily Nebraskan's web editor and multimedia content manager. Email Me , View All Andy's Entries