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Monday, February 23, 2009

Practiced Protocol


The single riderless horse that follows the caisson with boots reversed in the stirrups and an empty saddle symbolizes the departed will never ride again. It is said to date from the time of Genghis Khan, when the Mongols believed the spirit of a sacrificed horse went through a "gate to the sky" to serve its fallen warrior in the after-life.

This custom is just one of many protocols observed in a military  funeral, or following the line of duty death of a police officer or firefighter. Sadly, Philadelphia has had plenty of practice in the past year, with the funeral of Officer John Pawlowski on Friday, we've now buried five officers who were killed in the line of duty in less than a year.
Posted by Tom Gralish @ 7:12 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Tom Gralish
Tom Gralish is a general assignment photographer at The Inquirer, concentrating on local news and self-generated feature photos. He has been at the paper since 1983, photographing everything from revolution in the Philippines to George W. Bush’s road to the White House to homeless people living on the street right outside his newspaper's front door. For his photo essay on Philadelphia’s homeless, he was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Award. His weekly newspaper column, "Scene Through the Lens," takes a look at Philadelphia's urban landscape. Gralish, along with Inquirer colleague and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Vitez, spent a year visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art to capture the stories and photos of "Rocky runners" who come from all over the world to climb the steps - just as Sylvester Stallone did in the Academy Award winning film, Rocky. Their book, Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope and Happiness at America’s Most Famous Steps, was published in November 2006.
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