Honor and duty: The John Cary story

While everyone else was inside, John Cary was outside, performing a respectful ritual. 

On Veterans Day yesterday at The War Memorial, Cary executed Silent Guard duty during the annual breakfast.  

“You take a certain amount of steps, you stop, salute the flag very quietly and ceremoniously, then make a left or right face and march on,” Cary said, explaining what Silent Guard duty is. “When you get to the end of the pavement, you make a ceremonial about face which is slow, then do a slow salute.” 

This was the second time he participated in the breakfast in that manner. He also did Silent Guard duty at last year's Veterans Day Breakfast. 

“Then I march back and forth, not showing any emotion, you just continue to do it,” Cary said. “The importance of Silent Guard duty is to pay respect to our fallen brothers and sisters and our nation.” 

Speaking about Veterans Day, Cary noted that it’s a way to thank those who came before him, setting the tone for him to serve. 

“They are my role models and mentors,” he said.  

Cary has served in the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard Auxiliary and Army. He currently is in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the uniformed, non-military volunteer component of the Coast Guard.  

“I served in every conflict from when I joined until when I got out,” he said.  

In 2009, the Coast Guard Commandant made Cary an honorary chief petty officer. 

“Within the Navy I served with the Marines as well,” he said. “I started in the mid-1970s. I wanted to be in the military probably because of my family. We are a Gold Star family as well. Quite a few of my family members were in the military. My dad was in the Army.”  

When asked why we wanted to serve in so many branches, Cary said the needs of the service and the needs of his country dictated the path he took.     

In June, Cary received a letter from the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. The letter indicated that Cary is authorized to wear the Auxiliary Commandant’s Letter of Commendation Ribbon Bar. The commendation was for actions that Cary took in the summer of 2001 while a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.  

On a nighttime patrol, Cary and his fellow shipmates noticed lights shining into the water near the shoreline. Getting closer, it became apparent that a vehicle drove off the seawall and was half submerged in the lake.  

“That was my first patrol on the crew. We were the first people to arrive on scene,” he said. “We’re all volunteers. We contacted the station to let them know what we had and they said they didn’t have time to send someone out, so we did what we had to do.” 

Noticing a man and dog were trapped in the vehicle, Cary and crew developed a plan to execute a rescue. 

 “With the assistance of your break-in crewmember, Auxiliarist John Cary aided in the extraction of an inebriated driver and his dog from the vehicle’s window,” the letter states. 

The man was safely delivered to land-based rescue personnel. 

“As a result of your quick thinking and auxiliary experience, you and your shipmates turned a potentially catastrophic situation into a winning scenario and saved the life of a man and his dog,” the letter indicates.     

As we wrap up our 75th anniversary, The War Memorial thanks those who have shared their stories about the impact and experiences they have had at our nonprofit organization. To view past Stories of Impact, visit here.