ARLINGTON — It’s not uncommon at a funeral to lay a flag on the coffin, but what set Jamie Otto’s funeral apart was the flag by which he was remembered.
Otto, an Arlington resident who died July 17 at age 39, was an avid Civil War re-enactor. As such, his fellow members of the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment’s Company G arrived at the Arlington Cemetery in period-authentic uniforms to pay their respects. An 1865 flag of the Confederate States, which is the subject of national debate, was draped over his coffin.
Laurence Mulivrana, one of Otto’s friends and fellow re-enactors, attended in civilian attire, but addressed the controversial aspect of the day’s ceremonies head on, even as he paid tribute to a man whom he described as warm, witty and faithful.
Mulivrana connected his relationship with Otto to a deeper theme of remembrance.
“Civil War re-enactments began when both sides said we shouldn’t forget what happened on the battlefield, so they continued on with it,” Mulivrana said. “Especially on social media, the Confederate flag has a lot of negative associations, and everybody’s protesting it, but if we forget our history, we’re only going to repeat it.
“We look on this flag as history,” he continued. “There was a lot of pain and suffering in that war, but they were brothers in arms. Jamie was closer to me than my own siblings. I will miss him, but I will never forget him.”
Mulivrana came into Civil War re-enacting from 15 years in the actual military, “so I thought I had a handle on it, but the movements were totally different.”
By contrast, Otto had 20 years of experience in re-enacting, “and he helped me through it, and I’ll never forget that.”
Both Mulivrana and Joe Fuller, who served as Otto’s captain, recalled his fondness for food, with Mulivrana laughing that “there were few folks who liked Spam as much as Jamie did,” while Fuller recounted how Otto led a chase of nearly a hundred re-enactors, after a dog who’d made off with a large ham.
“He would do anything for you,” Fuller said. “He was one of the genuinely nicest people I’ve ever known.”
Mulivrana agreed: “He was quick with a handshake and a hug. When you needed a hand, you didn’t even need to ask him. We took care of each other.”
