That might have been the Freedom Riders. They go from funeral to funeral (normally military ones) where Fred Phelps and his ilk are protesting. They basically act as a shield for the family who's lost a loved one from the Phelps group.
They travel from state to state on donations and most of them are at least prior military if not retired military.
I know Phelps is/was set to protest at Falwell's funeral...