DENVER — A milestone will be reached at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver on Wednesday. The honor bell will toll for the 1,000th time during a veteran's funeral.
"After the flag is presented to the next of kin, we toll the bell seven times with seven seconds in between," said Louis Olivera, who founded the Honor Bell Foundation. "You toll a bell for sorrow, you ring a bell for joy. Tolling is the deliberate slow ringing of a bell to show respect for a veteran."
The bell will toll Wednesday for WWII veteran Elio Tasin. He served for about a year and a half as a combat infantry rifleman. He lived a full life after war and will get the honor he so deserves.
The bell was cast in 2016. It's 99 percent bronze. The other one percent is made up of artifacts from Colorado veterans. That includes dog tags from a Vietnam veteran and a purple heart.
The Honor Bell Foundation first budgeted for 300 funerals a year. They're now doing more than double that and hope donations keep them operating.