In his full dress blue uniform, Army National Guard Cadet Jordan Larsen gave a final, solemn salute to the flag-draped makeshift casket.

The 21-year-old Crown Point resident said it took an emotional toll to conduct military funeral honors for that American soldier buried in a Hobart cemetery.

"It broke my heart to see that happen," Larsen said of folding back the American flag to reveal a plain box labeled only with the words head and feet, indicating the direction of the body in the casket. "That was by far the worst."

Larsen and 11 other Indiana Army National Guard members travel throughout Northwest Indiana year-round to give veterans of past and present wars their final military farewells. The team conducts eight to 10 local funeral honors per week.

(Watch a video of the Northwest Indiana Funeral Honor Guard Ceremonial Unit performing funeral honors for Indiana National Guard 113th Engineer Battalion retired Maj. James David Ferguson, of Schererville.)

It's a somber detail -- especially in a time of war, members of the team say.

Spc. Nina Ellerbe, of Gary, the funeral team leader, said it gives her a sense of pride to honor servicemen for their sacrifices.

"It reflects their whole military career," Ellerbe said. "You never forget the past veterans. It shows you what's before you and where you're going."

The funeral team detail is voluntary -- and a duty that many guardsmen can't handle because of the emotional intensity.

"It gets to us," Ellerbe admitted. "It's only 15 minutes, but it's the hardest 15 minutes. We have to stand at attention and just not crack."

She recalled standing outside a plane as a fallen soldier came home for the last time in a wooden crate. Family members sobbed nearby.

Every veteran and fallen soldier gets taps played and the folding of a U.S. flag, which is presented to a surviving relative. Those with a ranking of colonel and above receive full honors, which entail a 21-gun salute, playing taps, folding of the flag and pallbearing.

The team practices an hour before every funeral ceremony to ensure it goes off without a hitch.

Ellerbe and four other members stood around World War II veteran Jan Sut's casket this week, their white-gloved hands raised in a last salute. Larsen stood off to the side, playing taps.

After the music stopped, Sgt. James Garfield knelt before Sut's son, Larry, and presented the flag, folded in a traditional triangle shape.

Larry Sut said his father would have appreciated the honors. Jan Sut served during World War II and was at the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion, the Schererville resident said.

"It's an honor," Larry Sut said, clutching the carefully folded flag. "I never had close family honored in this way."