December 7th, 2017, aside from being Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, was just another day at the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office. That is until they were notified that the remains of Navy Airman Albert “Bud” Rybarczyk would be arriving at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport at Grand Rapids. The decision was made that Chief Deputy Robert Boyce and Operations Lt. Steve Campbell would travel to Grand Rapids to give a police escort to the Starks and Menchinger Funeral Home hearse that would be transporting the Airman’s remains.
Chief Boyce says, “We serve the community in many ways, and this was the right thing to do and a fitting and appropriate way to honorably transport a fallen member of the greatest generation back to his home for his final rest.”
Lt. Campbell contacted Gary Blied of Bridgman, a commercial airline pilot for American Airlines who is a volunteer reserve deputy with the department as well as a retired Air Force pilot.
As Campbell tells it, “One of the great things about our reserves is we have a wide and deep experience base from which to draw.” Campbell, who is in charge of the Reserve Division, adds, “I knew Reserve Deputy Blied was familiar with what we needed to do and when I called him he immediately reported for duty.”
Campbell says the motorcade proceeded from Grand Rapids to St. Joseph and ended at the Starks & Menchinger Funeral Home on Niles Avenue. He says, “There, Navy Airman Rybarczyk was accorded full military honors with an escort and burial detail from the Navy Operation Support Center in Battle Creek.”
It was anything but just another day for Gary Blied. Campbell says, “Reserve Deputy Gary Blied joined us at the funeral home and presented the family with a 48 star flag, which would have been the vintage of flag Bud Rybarczyk would have served under during WWII.” But, Blied went a sizable step further, according to Campbell, who tells us, “He also presented the family with a pair of wings from his Air Force uniform which I’m told, is a pilot tradition.”
Gary picks up the story from there, saying, “We always send a set of wings with a fallen airman. Given the nature and reputation of pilots, we make sure our brother aviators have a set with them in case, for some reason, they are not issued one.” He issued forth a sly smile upon that observation.
Blied exhibited great pride in presenting the wings saying, “The wings we sent with Bud were particularly fitting. They were pinned on me on the day of my Air Force Pilot graduation by Navy Commander Bill Small who was a former Corvair fighter pilot in the Pacific during WWII and the father of a high school friend.” Gary says, “He got me interested in flying and I know he would be pleased that I honored a fellow Navy aviator with the wings he’d given me.”
Gary shared his story on Facebook this morning, and was met with an overwhelming amount of well-deserved praise for his selfless act in honoring a fellow member of United States military service.
For Bud Rybarczyk, burial services will be held on Monday, December 11, 2017, at 1 pm at St. Joseph Catholic Church located at 220 Church Street in St. Joseph. Internment will follow at Resurrection Cemetery.
Rybarczyk died at the age of 22 during World War II when his plane was ripped from the sky by the aftermath of a bombing run.
