'Of solemnity': Mims couple guides mule-drawn caisson at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery
Hoofs clip-clopping along the asphalt, the black mule-drawn caisson rolled slowly down a gentle hillside toward a group of mourners at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery, carrying the urn of a 95-year-old WWII Marine Corps veteran to his final duty station.
After stopping at a small open-air pavilion, Tom Fitzgerald slowly dismounted his mule and gripped the animal's halter while two Marines gently lifted the urn and a folded American flag from the caisson.
Then Fitzgerald snapped a salute with a white-gloved hand as the Marines walked through the small crowd of bereaved relatives and friends, carrying the urn and flag into the committal shelter to commence the late veteran's interment ceremony.
Fitzgerald climbed back up into his saddle, and the mules stoically pulled the caisson away, accompanied by hoofbeats and soft sounds of clinking metal.
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Since Cape Canaveral National Cemetery's 2016 inception, Fitzgerald, his wife, Denise, and their trusty mules, Emmitt and Tater, have piloted caissons on a volunteer basis to enhance the interment services of more than 600 U.S. troops.
“He and his wife really bring a sense of patriotism, of solemnity, of atmosphere that you just can't duplicate," said Donn Weaver, a Vietnam War veteran who chairs the Brevard Veterans Council.
“There are very few other VA national cemeteries that have that luxury, because it's such an expensive and challenging passion to get it right," Weaver said.
What is a caisson? A chest or wagon historically used to carry ammunition. Caissons also convey the caskets or urns of fallen military members, according to the U.S. Army North Caisson Platoon at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
Crafted from black powder-coated aluminum, constructed by an Amish wagonmaker in Indiana, the Fitzgeralds' customized caisson measures roughly 13 feet long and weighs about 900 pounds. This second-generation $10,000 caisson, which debuted in December, was engineered to make less noise than their previous model.
"It's so quiet. It's so respectful. And they can really hear the hoofbeats. For the families, our escorts at the beginning of the services really give them a time for reflection. And our motto is really to transform the somberness associated with life's end into prideful memories of that sacrifice," Tom said.
Attention to military detail
The Fitzgeralds dress in blue jackets, caps and trousers; white gloves; and knee-high black leather boots styled after U.S. Army uniforms worn during the Mexican–American War of 1846-48.
The Mims couple chose the uniforms to commemorate a renowned 1842 St. Augustine military parade with mule-drawn caissons that led interments of fallen soldiers at the end of the Second Seminole war. They participate in the West Point Society of North Florida's re-enactment of the procession every August.
The Fitzgeralds' mules and caisson served as a centerpiece of Cape Canaveral National Cemetery's inaugural burial ceremony, carrying the cremated remains of 12 veterans in January 2016.
Officials predict the 318-acre Scottsmoor cemetery will eventually house more than 163,000 veterans in the Brevard County area over a 100-year span. Weaver listed highlights the Fitzgeralds and their mules have participated in during the cemetery's opening years:
Four Missing in America Project ceremonies, where the ashes of dozens of veterans and spouses were interred after sitting unclaimed for decades on the shelves of East Central Florida funeral homes.
The high-profile February 2019 re-interment of WWII Tuskegee Airman Edwin Cowan and his wife, Theda. They had been buried without a grave marker in St. Luke's Episcopal Cemetery on Merritt Island
National Wreaths Across America Day, a mid-December campaign where volunteers lay Christmas wreaths on all of the gravesites.
The Fitzgeralds have deep emotional ties to the national cemetery. Denise's father, Robert Nedimyer, a WWII Navy veteran, and her mother, Dolores, are interred there. So is Tom's brother, William Fitzgerald Jr., an Army veteran.
Meet Emmitt and Tater
The couple acquired Emmitt from Ohio and Tater from Tennessee. The mules roam across a 3½ acre pasture amid dirt roads and small citrus groves north of Mims, roughly 4 miles from the Scottsmoor cemetery.
"Tater is super friendly. He wants to be right on top of you. And Emmitt — he's a little standoffish," Denise said.
Tom describes the duo as "buds" who have been companions for about 10 years — though Denise noted that "they'll fight with each other just like little kids." When they misbehave, the couple occasionally scolds them verbally by their full names: Emmitt Smith and Tater Bud.
"They have completely different personalities. But as a team, they complement each other," Tom said.
"If I had to stereotype these two, I would say Emmitt has more of a curious personality like a horse. Tater is more like the donkey. He's not afraid of anything," he said.
Emmitt and Taters' tails are trimmed into three "bells." According to military tradition, mules that earn two bells can pull a wagon, while three-bell mules — the most skilled of the breed — can be ridden.
Volunteers facing rising costs
Tom, a Marine Corps sergeant who served as a military policeman from 1982-86, is a retired director of information technology for Brevard Public Schools. Denise is a retired Titusville Police Department crime scene technician.
“The capital expenditures: My truck, trailer, the two caissons we have, the animals, all the equipment is over $150,000. And we don't have any aspirations to get that back," Tom said.
"We're not trying to get that back. We're trying to do something good here for the community, and it's working. People are really embracing it and thanking us," he said.
In 2018, the couple launched a small Mims-based nonprofit, Solemn Pride, to accept donations and defray their rising mule-related costs. They work on a volunteer basis and typically ask funeral homes or families to donate $350 per service.
Tom said each eight-minute caisson appearance during cemetery services requires 90 minutes of prep work and two hours of "teardown" time afterward. Operating costs have increased to about $30,000 per year, and donations last year totaled about $14,000.
"For years, it was all coming out of our own pocket. Hay went from $5.50 a bale to over $10 a bale now. And insurance: Even though we've never had a claim in eight years, it's gone sky-high," Tom said.
"The feed is $29 a bag for 50 pounds," Denise added.
"It used to be $13," Tom said.
'My final salute'
Last week, the Fitzgeralds and their mules participated in the solemn funeral service for Sgt. Frank Roth, a 95-year-old WWII veteran, at the national cemetery. Roth joined the Marine Corps in 1944, when he was 17, and he deployed the following year to Okinawa, Japan — he eventually boarded 18 troop ships going to or coming from the Pacific theater.
Roth later married his wife of 41 years, Penny; had four children; lived in Titusville and Trenton, New Jersey; and worked as a truck driver until retiring at an early age. Relatives and friends remember him as a storyteller who loved loved chocolate, spaghetti and warm weather.
Before Roth's memorial, Emmitt and Tater grazed on hay during their morning feeding an hour before heading to the cemetery. Tom and Denise labored to prep the equines.
"We tie them to the trailer and get a leaf blower. We blow the dust off of them. And then we do a double-brush on them and pick their feet, get the stuff out of their hoofs," Tom said, standing alongside the mules before the funeral.
The couple also painted Emmitt and Tater's hoofs with black polish, sprayed their furred coats with "show sheen," and used an electric cordless razor to touch up their tail bells, whiskers and ears.
Leading off Roth's remembrance, the mule-drawn caisson rolled toward the committal shelter behind a motorcycle phalanx of 20 Patriot Guard Riders.
"The caisson was amazing. It was a beautiful and impressive way to bring my father to the service," said Roth's daughter, Melbourne resident Jane Stanton.
Chip Hanson, Brevard Veterans Memorial Center chaplain, officiated the service. He is a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam.
Saying "we are here today to honor a true American hero," Hanson quoted Army Gen. George Patton while standing alongside an altar next to the urn, two flower bouquets and two portraits of Roth during his military days.
He recited a poem honoring fallen Marines.
"I have been a husband and a father and a friend, / To some of you here, / But I have been a Marine all along, / Even after so many a year.
"My final salute, / I render today," Hansen said, pausing and struggling to keep his voice level.
"I'm still a Marine, / I'm just on my way."
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Cape Canaveral National Cemetery couple offers caisson burial services
