A Davenport native assigned to Marine Barracks, Washington D.C., known as 8th and I, is one of twelve Marines who are joining other service members as Honor Guard for the casket of President George Herbert Walker Bush, who is lying in state at the Capitol Rotunda.
Lance Cpl. Justin Gillaspie, 21, who has been assigned to 8th and I, the oldest post of the Marine Corps, since Aug. 17, 2017, has been in a Marine for just less than two years. He will celebrate his two-year anniversary on March 6.
Talking to the Quad-City Times on Tuesday, Gillaspie said he and the other six members of his 7-member team were dressed and ready at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to practice and go on their 12-hour shift at 10 p.m.
“We have a full 12-hour shift,” Gillaspie said. “We rotate out every half hour.”
He and the other 11 Marines to serve as honor guards were selected by command, he added.
Asked how he felt about partaking in such an honor, Gillaspie said, “I haven’t thought too much about it.
“It hasn’t completely soaked in,” he said. “It’s certainly a huge honor to be able to do. I imagine that at some time in the future it’ll be something I look back on and talk about.”
A member of each branch of the armed forces — Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard — surrounds the casket.
Justin said after the Marine Corps he will return to Davenport where he will be a police officer, like his dad, Jason Gillaspie, who has been a Davenport cop for 17 years.
“My wife and I are so proud of him,” Jason Gillaspie said of his son. “We couldn’t be more proud of the things he’s done in the just under two years he’s been in. Just to be assigned to Marine Barracks, Washington D.C., 8th and I, is an honor in itself.”
Jason Gillaspie said his son called him and told him what he was going to be doing, so his dad was in front of the television watching.
“It seems like he’s always doing something interesting out there in Washington,” Jason Gillaspie said.
Justin said that his dad supports his choice of careers at the Davenport Police Department.
“He’s always been very supportive of everything I’ve done,” Justin said.
George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the U.S., died Friday at the age of 94. He served as president from 1989 to 1993.
George HW Bush
Visitors to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum sign condolence books Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018, in College Station. Bush died at his home Friday night. He was 94. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
George HW Bush
Tiffany Utterson, right, and her children, from left to right, Ella, 11, Ian, 10 and Owen, 8, place a wreath outside the gated community entrance to the home of George H.W. Bush Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018, in Houston. Bush is returning to Washington as a revered political statesman, hailed by leaders across the political spectrum and around the world as a man not only of greatness but also of uncommon decency and kindness. Bush, died late Friday at his Houston home at age 94, is to be honored with a state funeral at National Cathedral in the nation's capital on Wednesday, followed by burial Thursday on the grounds of his presidential library at Texas A&M.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
George H.W. Bush
The sun rises behind Special Air Mission 41, the plane that will transfer the casket of former President George H.W. Bush to Washington,D.C., Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Houston. Bush, died late Friday at his Houston home at age 94, is to be honored with a state funeral at National Cathedral in the nation's capital on Wednesday, followed by burial Thursday on the grounds of his presidential library at Texas A&M. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
George HW Bush
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to Special Air Mission 41 at Ellington Field during a departure ceremony Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool)
George HW Bush
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to Special Air Mission 41 at Ellington Field during a departure ceremony Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool)
George H.W. Bush
With the flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush aboard at Ellington Field, Special Air Mission 41 prepares to depart, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
George H.W. Bush
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to Special Air Mission 41 at Ellington Field during a departure ceremony Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
George HW Bush
Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush boards the plane after the casket of his father, former President George H.W. Bush, was placed on the plane during a departure ceremony at Ellington Field Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool)
George HW Bush
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to Special Air Mission 41 at Ellington Field during a departure ceremony Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool)
George HW Bush
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to a hearse at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
George HW Bush
Former President George W. bush, Laura Bush and other family members watch as the flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to lie in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Washington. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
George HW Bush
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Washington. (Pool photo by Morry Gash via AP)
George HW Bush
A joint services military honor guard carries the casket of former President George H.W. Bush into the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington to lie in state, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
George HW Bush
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to lie in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Washington. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)
George HW Bush
Former President George W. Bush, with former first lady Laura Bush, listens to eulogies for his father, President George H.W. Bush, as he lies in state at the Capitol Rotunda where in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
George HW Bush
A member of the military stands watch over the flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Monday, Dec 3, 2018. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP)
George HW Bush
Outgoing Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Nancy Pelosi greet former president George W. Bush after paying their respects to former president George H.W. Bush at the Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
George HW Bush
Outgoing Speaker Paul Ryan greets former President George W. Bush during a ceremony for former President George H.W. Bush at the Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
George HW Bush
Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court including, from left Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, former Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy and Associate Justice Samuel Alito await the arrival of the casket of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, where it will lie in state in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP
George HW Bush
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump pay their respects to former President George H.W. Bush, as he lies in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
George HW Bush
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to pay their respects to former President George H.W. Bush as he lies in state at the Capitol's Rotunda in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
George HW Bush
Stephen G. Leighton Jr. salutes as he pays his respects to former President George H.W. Bush in the Capitol's Rotunda in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP)
George HW Bush
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions views the flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush as he lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
