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 that George J.
Weiss Jr. started three decades ago has delivered the final salute
at more than 56,400 military burials.


      Weiss, a World War II veteran, has made it his mission to
provide military honors to deceased veterans at Fort Snelling
National Cemetery in Minneapolis.


      President Barack Obama recognzied Weiss and 12
other people with the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second
highest honor that can be conferred on an American civilian.


      Weiss' desire to start the volunteer rifle squad came after a
friend died in 1977 and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post
couldn't provide the military honors at the burial. He pledged to
start a memorial squad after he retired. And when he ended his
30-year career as a utility repairman with Ford Motor Co., Weiss
formed a memorial squad of six people. Today, it's comprised of 130
men.


      "We don't know 99 percent of the people we're burying - they're
strangers," Weiss said. "But still, we've all been in the
military, and we try to take care of each other."


      This year's Citizens Medal winners have helped the poor and
advocated for deaf children. One honoree is focused on
conservation, while another helps young pregnant women with
educational training. They also include a Colombian immigrant who
regularly feeds about 130 people, and a 9/11 widow who has reached
out to help widows in Afghanistan.


      President Richard M. Nixon established the award in 1969 as a
tribute to exemplary service by any citizen. The medal has been
handed out to a range of people, from actress Elizabeth Taylor, to
sports legend Muhammad Ali, to Sen. Strom Thurmond of South
Carolina, more than a decade before he died in 2003.


      Obama looked to the public to find the winners of this year's
medals - the first Citizens Medals he will give out as president.
He asked people to nominate individuals who had helped their
communities or country.


      Almost every night for the past six years, Jorge Munoz, 46, has
been delivering homemade food to homeless people and day laborers
in Queens, New York.


      Using donations and money he earns as a school bus driver, he
feeds about 130 people a day from the back of his truck. That can
translate to 22 pounds of rice, 20 pounds of pasta, 60 pounds of
chicken, 150 cups of coffee and 160 pieces of bread in just one
night.


      His drive to give to others began with a simple word of advice
from his mother: "Share."


      "She always says, 'If you share, you're OK with God," said
Munoz, a Colombia native who became a U.S. citizen in the early
1990's. He lives in New York City with his mother, sister and
nephew, who have all pitched in to help over the years.


      The Sept. 11 attacks left Susan Retik widowed. But she turned
her tragedy into hope for widows in Afghanistan - where the
al-Qaida planners of the terror strikes found harbor.


      Retik was pregnant with her third child when her husband David
was killed on American Airlines Flight 11, one of the planes lost
in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The outpouring support she
received after she lost her husband led her to co-found Beyond the
11th in 2003.


      "I just thought to myself, 'Who's helping them over there?' So
many people here were helping us," said Retik, 42, of Needham,
Mass.


      The nonprofit's focus is twofold: to raise awareness about the
hardships facing women in Afghanistan, and to raise money for
programs that help widows in the country become more financially
independent and send their children to school. The organization has
given out about $600,000 in grants that have helped hundreds of
women as a result, Retik said.


      She said people would first ask her why she would want to help
the Afghan women.


      "I don't believe people are born with hate in their heart,"
she said. "We all want the same things in life. And you know,
those things are health and happiness, and peace and security. They
want those same things for their children the way that we do for
ours, and it doesn't make them bad people because they happen to be
born in a different country."


      The other 2010 Citizens Medal recipients are: Daisy Brooks, of
Chicago; Betty Chinn, of Eureka, Calif.; Roberta Diaz Brinton, of
Los Angeles; Cynthia Church, of Wilmington, Del.; Mary K. Hoodhood,
of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Kimberly McGuiness, of Cave Spring, Ga.;
Lisa Nigro, of Chicago; Mary Ann Phillips, of Star Valley Ranch,
Wyo.; Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam, of Shaftsbury, Vt.; and
Myrtle Faye Rumph, 78, of Inglewood, Calif.

Gallery

The all-volunteer rifle squad that George J.
Weiss Jr. started three decades ago has delivered the final salute
at more than 56,400 military burials.

Minn. veteran awarded Presidential Citizens Medal

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