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John W. LaClair, a parishioner of St. Clare's Church in Colonie, was granted the honor of placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C., last month.

The site, also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, contains the remains of unidentified American soldiers who served in World Wars I and II, the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War. It is guarded 24 hours a day by Tomb Guard sentinels.

A veteran of the Air Force, Mr. LaClair was an aircraft electrician for four years in the late 1950s, servicing bombers and refueling planes in Greenland and Labrador during peacetime. Now 78, he and his daughter accompanied a sergeant to the tomb in mid-May.

He called it "the greatest honor that's ever been bestowed on me.

"I was only a corporal in the service," he explained. "We had no war. I did [the ceremony] for all the veterans; I did not just do it for me."

Mr. LaClair's wreath specifically honored 37 U.S. Navy personnel who were killed when Iraqis fired missiles on the USS Stark during the Iran-Iraq War in 1987. He represented the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Ironworkers, the union over which his daughter's boyfriend presides.

The union shares a building with No Greater Love, a non-profit organization that aids families of fallen soldiers. That group suggested Mr. LaClair's participation in the ritual.

He considers the tomb a monument to all soldiers: "[If] you serve in the military, you should be noted, recognized for all the hard work," he said.

Mr. LaClair was born in Plattsburgh and raised in Watervliet. For 51 years, he's lived in Niskayuna and attended St. Clare's, where he's an altar server, an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, a choir member and a food pantry volunteer. He worked in a Nashua Corporation factory for 36 years until his retirement 17 years ago.

He cares for a few apple trees and three beehives, harvesting about 100 pounds of honey a year.

Mr. LaClair's thoughts on bees hearken back to his military service and his faith: "Their little sacks are loaded and they come in like heavy airplanes. They're God's creatures."[[In-content Ad]]

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