Florida funeral bill prevents Vietnam Veteran being laid to rest

Staten Island veteran, who asked for Arlington burial, still at Fla. funeral home 15 months later
Staten Island Advance
By Timothy Harrison
March 28, 2014

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Almost 15 months after he died, John L. Matyi, a disabled Vietnam War veteran who lived on Staten Island for six decades, still hasn't been buried at Arlington National Cemetery, his dream since he left the battlefield in 1970.

The Army awarded Matyi a Purple Heart.

Later, he suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and subsequent alcoholism.

But according to Matyi's only survivor, his brother Alex, none of that mattered to Brown Funeral Home in Lecanto, Fla., which handled his cremation last year, when money ran short and the $1,200 charge couldn't be paid.

Alex Matyi said the funeral home assured him months ago that the service would be taken care of.

"I got all the papers from the V.A. for the burial," he said. But without a confirmation from Arlington seven months after his brother's death, he called officials at the cemetery, who searched for a week for the missing remains.

"I was under the impression that he had already left that funeral home," Alex Matyi said. He called the funeral director, who, according to Matyi, said: "No he's still here - it's a matter of $1,200."
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