Homeless Vietnam Veteran Not Forgotten or Nameless

Donor Buys Headstone for Homeless Vietnam Veteran
KRGV 5 ABC News
Posted: Jul 01, 2016

“Gregory” was found dead behind a convenience store. It wasn’t until after his death that the Raymondville community found out who “Gregory” really was. His name was Kent Karl Kauten. He was from Wisconsin and a veteran of the U.S. Navy.

RAYMONDVILLE — A Vietnam veteran will now be forever remembered in Raymondville. An anonymous donor bought a headstone for a homeless man buried in the city cemetery.

Until Friday, the grave was marked with a small, simple, not-so-permanent marker.

“We’d see him every day for five years panhandling at our streets, and we didn't know him. He was like an unknown soldier,” said VFW Commander George Solis.

Solis said the man would’ve been buried as a John Doe if it hadn’t been for a group of five Raymondville teens.

In 2013, CHANNEL 5 NEWS reported about a duo that was part of a church group that was doing a project on poverty. They interviewed the man with a shopping cart, who seemed to live under the highway over pass. The man called himself “Gregory.”

“We knew ‘Gregory’ as the man under the bridge, the homeless man who pushed around a cart,” said Ralia Cortinas, a member of the church group.
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