Obsessive in seeing that the remains are treated with dignity and respect every inch of the way as they are loaded and off-loaded at airports, the Marine officer sleeps in an unheated storage hangar at the Minneapolis airport rather than in a hotel, so that he can keep an eye on his fallen comrade until it's time for their connecting flight to Wyoming in the morning.
At each stop on the trip, ordinary Americans, ranging from cargo handlers to truckers, go out of their way to show honor and respect to the remains of Phelps. An ad-hoc funeral procession through a mountain pass out West makes for one of the most powerful TV moments I have experienced.
Then comes the imagery of a buckboard and team of horses carrying Phelps to his grave as Boy Scouts, civilians and military veterans line a dusty stretch of road leading to the cemetery. The scene is as resonant and evocative of the American frontier spirit as anything done by big-screen director John Ford. The pictures instantly make you understand the culture that shaped Phelps into such a courageous young man.
