North Huntingdon man recognized for service by Air Force Honor Guard

Bill Priatko has had many roles in his nine decades — playing football for the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Steelers, teaching at Norwin, coaching football at Swissvale High School, being Yough’s athletic director and selling Wrigley gum — but the one he cherishes most is his duty with the Air Force Honor Guard.

“Of all the things I have done in life, nothing equals serving in the (Air Force) Honor Guard. I was blessed and honored to be assigned to the Honor Guard,” said the 91-year-old North Huntingdon resident.

Priatko, a North Braddock native, was the commander of the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery for two years and seven months in the mid-1950s.

For his dedication to duty and outstanding level of professionalism with the highest ideals of leadership, Priatko was inducted into the Air Force Honor Guard’s Order of the Praetorians in ceremonies at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C. The Order of Praetorians is a select group of top-performing ceremonial guardsmen of all ranks and backgrounds who go above and beyond the normal expectations of a ceremonial guardsman. They are chosen to embody the Air Force core values and the honor guard spirit to the highest degree, the Air Force states.

Priatko said he was surprised by the honor at the ceremony, which was attended by his son Daniel, and daughter, Debbie.

“It caught me off guard, naturally, in a joyful way. I never expected it,” Priatko said.

A spokesperson for the Air Force Honor Guard could not be reached for comment.

His son Dan Priatko, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is proud of his father’s recognition.

“In the 75-year history of the honor guard, this award has (normally) been presented to an enlisted member of the honor guard. My dad was doubly honored to receive this award as an officer,” Dan Priatko said

Recalling his service as commander of the Air Force Honor Guard, Bill Priatko said he was the presenting officer at more than 2,000 funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, leading the contingent of ceremonial guardsmen. He said he felt his greatest sense of duty at the funerals after the folding of the United States flag that had draped the coffin.

“I had the responsibility of presenting the American flag that draped the casket of their loved one,” Priatko recalled. “I said, ‘I present this flag to you in memory of your loved one who has served our country well.’ ”

“The sound of taps playing at Arlington will stay with me forever,” Priatko said.

Priatko was selected to be part of the honor guard in 1954 when he was stationed at what was then Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. He was sent to Bolling — the home of the Air Force football team before the Air Force Academy was founded — because he played football at Pitt, where he was a member of the Air Force ROTC. The newly-minted second lieutenant’s primary duty was as an officer and commander of the Air Force Honor Guard.

“I was so honored and felt so grateful” to come from a humble background in North Braddock and be selected to serve in the honor guard, Priatko said.

As the commander of the Honor Guard, he also was the officer in charge for the Air Force contingent at ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

He also served as part of President Dwight Eisenhower’s honor guard during ceremonies when the president was greeting foreign dignitaries. Priatko recalled talking with Eisenhower about football — Eisenhower played for Army at West Point — while waiting for proceedings to begin.

They made such a connection, Priatko said, that Eisenhower personally requested that he be the officer-in-charge of the 44-man honor guard, 11 each from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines, around the presidential box at Eisenhower’s 1957 Inaugural Ball at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D. C. They even got to imbibe in a glass of champagne in celebration of Eisenhower’s inauguration, Priatko said.