"During the service, as Monsoor's coffin was taken from the hearse to the gravesite, Navy SEALs lined up in two columns. As the coffin passed, video shows each SEAL slapping down the gold Trident from his uniform and deeply embedding it in Monsoor's wooden coffin...." ("A Fitting Tribute to a Slain Navy SEAL Gains Attention" FOXNews (July 4, 2008)
"Rare Mikey Monsoor memorial footage" YouTube (January 1, 2008)
YouTube video, 9:34
Previous posts about Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A Monsoor:
- "Michael Anthony Monsoor: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty"
(April 8, 2008) - "Michael Monsoor to Receive Posthumus Medal of Honor"
(April 2, 2008) - "Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor: American Hero"
(March 31, 2008)
UPDATE (July 30, 2008)
(unknown source)
"You can't get such alignment...."
Well, I probably couldn't.
I've learned that there's a story going around that a photo of tridents on Monsoor's coffin are a sort of hoax:
"While the report is true the pic is obviously a hoax.
"1# You can't get such alignment by slapping badges on a coffin as it passes by.
"2# A National Cemetery and not one Government headstone in site.
"#3 Plastic flowers hummmm I don't believe they are allowed in National Cemeteries. I have never seen any in the many National Cemeteries I have visited."
(Armchair General and HistoryNet discussion thread (July 22, 2008))
Someone else in that thread provided the URL for Snopes' report: "Mike Monsoor" (Snopes.com (July 2008)).
The video embedded in this post shows that the coffin, although suspended, wasn't moving past the SEALS. They were lined up on either side of the coffin. The tridents weren't slapped on, they were placed, then pounded by each SEAL. The place-and-pound footage is about 8:50 into the video.
Even without the video, I'd have been hesitant to say that something is impossible. My guess is that most SEALS can do quite a few things that I can't.
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