Wounded Times

Military funeral held for homeless veteran in Westlake Village
By Rachel McGrath
Posted March 30, 2012

PHOTO BY CHUCK KIRMAN, VENTURA COUNTY STAR Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Stephens presents a U.S. flag to retired Army Lt. Col. Richard Kohlbrand at the military funeral for Richard Keachie of the Air Force at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary and Cemetery in Westlake Village on Friday.

Homeless veteran Richard Keachie, who died in Los Angeles on Jan. 29, received a military funeral Friday at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks in Westlake Village. All that is known about Keachie, whose remains were unclaimed, is that he was born in New Orleans on Feb. 24, 1933, and enlisted in the Air Force in 1952, serving until 1954. "He left this Earth in a way that we would not want him to leave this Earth, with nobody to be there for him on his final day,"

Valley Oaks operations manager Chester Perry said to the small group in the veterans area of the Memorial Park. "But you are here. You are his family this day," Perry said.

Keachie's funeral service and burial at Riverside National Cemetery were made possible through the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, a collaboration among Dignity Memorial funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers, Riverside National Cemetery, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and local veterans organizations and veterans advocates. read more here