WWII vet, 12 others, honored for deeds

WASHINGTON (AP) - The all-volunteer rifle squad that George J. Weiss Jr. started three decades ago has delivered the final salute at more than 56,400 military burials.

Weiss, a World War II veteran, has made it his mission to provide military honors to deceased veterans at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama awarded him and 12 other people the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second highest honor for civilians.

Weiss' desire to start the volunteer rifle squad came after a friend died in 1977 and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post couldn't provide the military honors at the burial. He pledged to start a memorial squad after he retired. And when he ended his 30-year career as a utility repairman with Ford Motor Co., Weiss formed a memorial squad of six people. Today, it's comprised of 130 men.

"We don't know 99 percent of the people we're burying -- they're strangers," Weiss said. "But still, we've all been in the military, and we try to take care of each other."

This year's Citizens Medal winners have helped the poor and advocated for deaf children. One honoree is focused on conservation, while another helps young pregnant women with educational training.

"For these men and women, serving others isn't just the right thing to do," Obama said, "it's the obvious thing to do."

President Richard M. Nixon established the award in 1969 as a tribute to exemplary service by any citizen.

Obama looked to the public to find the winners of this year's medals.

While the honorees' names might not be recognizable, Obama said "They are heroes to those who need it the most. And together they remind us that we all have a purpose on this Earth that goes beyond our own lives and our own individual needs."

Almost every night for the past six years, Jorge Munoz, 46, has been delivering homemade food to homeless people and day laborers in Queens, New York.

Using donations and money he earns as a school bus driver, he feeds about 130 people a day from the back of his truck. That can translate to 22 pounds of rice, 20 pounds of pasta, 60 pounds of chicken, 150 cups of coffee and 160 pieces of bread in just one night.

His drive to give to others began with a simple word of advice from his mother: "Share."

"She always says, 'If you share, you're OK with God," said Munoz, a Colombia native who became a U.S. citizen in the early 1990's. He lives in New York City with his mother, sister and nephew, who have all pitched in to help over the years.

The Sept. 11 attacks left Susan Retik widowed. But she turned her tragedy into hope for widows in Afghanistan -- where the al-Qaida planners of the terror strikes found harbor.

Retik was pregnant with her third child when her husband David was killed on American Airlines Flight 11, one of the planes lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The outpouring of support she received after she lost her husband led her to co-found Beyond the 11th in 2003.

"I just thought to myself, 'Who's helping them over there?' So many people here were helping us," said Retik, 42, of Needham, Mass.

Obama said for Retik and the other honorees, "The words 'not my problem' don't exist. Instead, they ask themselves, 'If I don't help this person, who will?"'

The other 2010 Citizens Medal recipients are: Daisy Brooks of Chicago; Betty Kwan Chinn, Eureka, Calif.; Roberta Diaz Brinton, Los Angeles; Cynthia Church, Wilmington, Del.; Mary Hoodhood, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Kimberly McGuiness, Cave Spring, Ga.; Lisa Nigro, Chicago; MaryAnn Phillips, Star Valley Ranch, Wyo.; Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam, Shaftsbury, Vt.; and Myrtle Faye Rumph, Inglewood, Calif.

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Online:

http://www.memorialriflesquad.org/

http://www.anangelinqueens.org/

http://www.beyondthe11th.org/