A 2015 Tecumseh High School graduate was awarded the honor of serving in the Marine Honor Guard that guarded the body of John Glenn when it recently lay in state in Ohio’s capitol building.

Lance Corporal Mike Snyder is the son of Angela and Mike Snyder Sr. and the grandson of Herbert and Lucille Baker.

Herbert served in the Army Air Corps during WWII, and LCpl Snyder continued the family tradition of military service by joining the Marine Corps immediately upon his graduation from Tecumseh. According to his mother, Snyder decided to join the Marines because” he wanted to serve in the best branch” of the U.S. military.

LCpl Snyder is a member of the infantry and is currently stationed in Washington D.C. where he serves as part of the funeral detail at Arlington National Cemetery, a high honor and a job rife with history. Arlington National Cemetery conducts between 27 and 30 services each weekday and between 6 and 8 services on Saturday, for a total of more than 3,000 funerals performed each year.

According to his mother, as an Ohio resident, LCpl Snyder was given the first opportunity to apply to serve in the Honor Guard for John Glenn, who also served as a Marine.

“We are very, very proud of our son. He works very hard for everything he has accomplished,” says his mother.