COEUR d'ALENE - The life, the chaplain says, drains him.

The emotional toll of investing in people, from the joy of friendship to the heartache of loss, can be more than a man can bear at times.

Funerals, the chaplain says, come too often.

"I used to think I was a macho guy," says Gerald Englebrecht, Veteran of Foreign Wars chaplain for 20 years, who has spent countless hours visiting veterans and their families. "But it takes a lot out of you. I shed a tear every once in a while. Some might call me a cry baby, but that's OK."

There are the veterans he befriends in retirement or nursing homes. There are their families if they are no longer here. Too often, there are the funerals, which the Garwood resident sometimes officiates, having attached himself to the life being memorialized.

"You get pretty deep in people's lives when you love them," he says, waiting for a church service to begin Sunday afternoon at Life Care Center of Coeur d'Alene. "But it's very rewarding. They give me back love and friendship. We all need someone to lean on."

For his dedication to veterans - like running errands for veterans who can't do so themselves, or just the services he's given at Coeur d'Alene Church of the Nazarene - Englebrecht was named the 2011 Distinguished Veteran and Veterans Day Parade Grand Marshal for the city of Hayden.

A surprise, the U.S. Air Force and Vietnam veteran says, since he didn't even know he had been nominated.

"I still don't feel I'm deserving of it," says Englebrecht, married with two sons. "There are so many people who do a lot more than me."

The city of Hayden and the veteran affairs committee thought otherwise. As marshal, Englebrecht will lead the fifth annual Veteran's Day celebration Friday, which begins at 10 a.m., and moves south along Government Way from Hayden to Honeysuckle avenues, by riding up front.

The 2011 Veterans Day and distinguished veteran of the year ceremonies will follow the parade at Pfc. Robert J. Gordon Veterans Memorial Plaza at Hayden City Hall.

Even if he doesn't know who pitched his name, Englebrecht says he's honored for the nomination for his service as chaplain, which has taught him about life.

Pain always comes after loss, he knows, and he couldn't go through it all by himself.

"By the grace of God, that's strictly it," he says. "I can't do this alone."

But the reward always comes before that.

"If you want to see a miracle you have to be involved in people's lives," he says. "And I see a lot of miracles every day."

For veterans who would like to ride in the parade on the veteran affairs committee float, contact: Wayne Syth: 772-2792.

Press reporter David Cole contributed to this report.