Ben the  plunderer writes....I wish to  express my sincere  appreciation to Ray Chambers, Rudi Cooper,Frank Kennemur and  the  other SF   movers  and  shakers who helped put together  a First Class  Honor  Guard  ceremony for  our  deceased  brother ,Ivan Bomark. Since I was  not  able to charter a  small 4  passenger air plane  to land  in Salome , Bev came  up with  the  idea  of  renting a  10 passenger limo for the  2  of  us to arrive  in style  since  neither  of  us wanted  to  drive  that long round  trip of  just under 1,000 miles.  We  started out with the  limo stocked  with  a  huge  full  bar  and 3  bottles of Dom Perigon .After a  couple  of   bottles  of champaign we settled in and  managed  to  sleep almost the  entire  trip.

SALOME ,AZ...I am  convinced that if  there  is  an area  51, Salome  is  dead  center..with  the exception of  two  18th century buildings ,one motel, one small cafe, post office , and  sheriffs office there was  little other reason for the town to exist. I presume  all of  the  good  stuff ,shopping  malls, grocery stores,theaters, gas stations, and  other  stores  of  basic  necessities  were  secretly hidden several thousand feet underground. I have  been in bigger ghost  towns.  There  was  not  even a  stop light. Our  driver did  finally manage to find  the  church where  he  unloaded  the  Montangard  gongs  and our  cd  player of  the Ballad  of  the  Green Beret, since  the  other  copy was  a 78 record that was left out  side the  church  on a  record  player and  was  unintelligible and  useless as a  brillo pad...Since  there  was  no taxi service  in Salome, or  undertaker's  limo , we  sent  our driver  and and  limo out  to find  the  Bomarks, which was  really scary since  we  only saw 2  streets....At any rate, in short  order  he  came  back from somewhere with  the  family. The  small church that was  filled  to capacity with every person from the  county Every single  person got  up and gave a  testimonial of  what a  great  guy Ivan was  and  how  he  had  personally helped  each and every one of  them. During  the services Ivan's  ashes  sat  up on the alter  in a  small oak box with his  picture  and  4 great wreaths from Special Forces folks.  I left my beret on top of  Ivan's  ashes because  he looked  a  little strange  with out one.

As  soon as  the  ceremony was over everyone gathered outside where  Ray Chambers  presided over  the  Special Forces  prayer  and  directed  the  honor  guard. Twenty one rounds  were  fired in his  honor , the  flag folded  and  presented  with honor  to  Ivan's  wife ,Dagmar. Ivan's daughter Jennifer, an Army 1st Lt. son Jim , and  sister Wanda all were  present. After the  flag presentation 7  Montangard  gongs  were  each struck loudly 3  times giving  Ivan an additional Montangard  send  off...

By this  time  it  was  about  110 degrees  in the  shade, and all followed  into  the  church where a great pot  luck was  put  on by the  ladies  of  the church  for all  the  folks  in  attendance. As  the line  formed  around  the  church for  lunch Bev & I  and  several of  the SF remained  by the  limo and  hopped  into  the  65 degree air-conditioning it  provided.  Once  there  we  proceeded to toast to  Ivan and  empty the  bar.The  limo was  then sent  off  to  look for  a  liquor  store to restock the bar. ( no easy situation since  they hide  the liquor  store).

At that point  we  went  in to  have  lunch with  all of  Ivan's  friends . I had made  4  copies  of  50 ea. 8x10's photos  in folders of Ivan and  his  memories  and presented  them to  the  family....I had  the privilege  of carrying Ivan out  to  the back seat of our  limo where he  was  joined  by  his  family and driven  home in style . A few  minutes later our  limo returned to load  up and collect us  for  our journey back to Santa Barbara, Ca . I bid my final farewell to Command Sgt. Major Ivan Bomark who was  one  of  the  finest  men and  soldiers I have ever know.  We  continued  to toast Ivan till sleep  overtook us. Miles later  our  blurry eyed driver  begged  to pull into a  restaurant  and  asked us  to please  have  a  long  dinner ,so he  could  have  a  hour's  nap in order  to safely deliver us home. That  sounded like  a  very wise  choice  to  us  and  we  gratefully obliged so we  all might live  through our  journey.

Again ,I sincerely thank all of  the  SF and  friends  who went the extra  mile  to  say good  bye to a great SF soldier.