Vietnam veteran not buried alone...Intern's invitation brought 3,000

Intern's efforts bring 3,000 attendees to funeral of Vietnam veteran who had no living relatives

ABC News
By ELIZABETH THOMAS
Jul 18, 2019

It wasn’t just the local community that came to pay their respects. Others drove to Michigan from Iowa, Tennessee and Florida to honor the veteran.

When Wayne Wilson passed away in May with no surviving family members, his friends initially planned for a small service of 10 people.

But when Drew Mickel, an intern at Brown Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Niles, Michigan, put out a call to the public inviting them to Wilson’s funeral, the small service turned into a massive gathering as more than 3,000 people showed up from across the country to honor the deceased veteran.

“We were just hoping that some of the public would come out and honor him and pay respects,” Mickel told ABC News. “It turned out that a lot of people showed up, saying that he might not have family but I’ll be his family for the day."

Wilson, a Vietnam War veteran, passed away May 28 at age 67. He served in the army from 1971 to 1977, according to his obituary.
read it here

Air Force Veteran James Davis had no family until he was buried by huge one

Veteran with no known living relatives given hero's send-off

Hastings Tribune
John Huthmacher
Apr 25, 2019

AYR — A U.S. Air Force veteran who died alone in his apartment in early March was remembered with a hero’s sendoff from a grateful community Tuesday afternoon.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders and American Legion Riders form a circle around the grave site for James Davis Tuesday at Blue Valley Cemetery near Ayr. Laura Beahm

Around 150 mourners attended the graveside service honoring the memory of James Davis, who died at age 61. Many arrived at the cemetery as part of a motorcade from Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home to Blue Valley Cemetery near Ayr.

The Rev. Thomas Brouillette, chief administrative officer of Hastings Catholic Schools, presided at the committal service, which included full military honors. The motorcade procession included members of the Patriot Guard Riders and American Legion Riders.

Davis, a Hastings transplant who relocated from Philadelphia in 2006, had no known relatives and but a handful of friends from the various jobs he worked while in the community, including a stint at Dunkin’ Donuts shortly before his death.

Greg Sinner, his landlord for 13 years, discovered Davis’ body inside his apartment at 739 N. Lincoln Ave. He teamed with Mike Butler of the funeral home and Adams County Veterans Service Officer Chris Long to make funeral arrangements.
read more here

Unclaimed veterans laid to rest in Washington

Unclaimed veterans' remains put to rest with dignity and honor

KAVL News
by Julia Espinoza
April 18th 2019

PASCO, Wash. -- Remains of 21 veterans left unclaimed by loved ones are being honored with a proper burial at the Washington State Veterans cemetery in Medical Lake.

On Thursday, a service took place before the ride, honoring fallen heroes with a poem, folding of flag and the pledge of allegiance.

“It’s part of the veteran brotherhood no brother or sister left behind they deserve full military honors and they should not be forgotten,” said John Fish, Ride Coordinator.

The Missing in America Project is a program that helps locate, identify and provide a proper burial for fallen heroes.
read more here

Missing in America Project laid to rest 18 unclaimed veterans

Cape Canaveral National Cemetery Holds ‘You are Not Forgotten’ Ceremony for Unclaimed Veterans

Space Coast Daily
February 4, 2019

BREVARD COUNTY • MIMS, FLORIDA – The Cape Canaveral National Cemetery held a burial Saturday, Feb. 2 for veterans who went unclaimed in a “You are Not Forgotten” ceremony that drew hundreds of servicemen and women who wanted to pay tribute.

The Cape Canaveral National Cemetery held a burial Saturday, Feb. 2 for veterans who went unclaimed in a “You are Not Forgotten” ceremony that drew hundreds of servicemen and women who wanted to pay tribute. (Lee Hathaway image)

Since 2007, the nonprofit organization Missing in America Project has set out to find unclaimed veterans and give them a final resting place.

Thanks to the nonprofit, Cape Canaveral National Cemetery is now the resting spot for 18 veterans and six spouses.

According to the organization, one veteran went unclaimed at a local funeral home since 1973.

Missing in America Project Florida coordinator Kathy Church said many veterans’ ashes have sat on funeral home shelves, in attics and in storage.

The Medical Examiner’s Office has some dating back to the Civil War.
read more here

Do not let Air Force Veteran Joseph Walker be buried alone

UPDATE

No one was expected to show up for Texas veteran's burial — now cemetery is planning for big turnout

'No veteran should be buried alone': No one expected to attend Texas veteran's funeral

KVUE ABC News
Author: Juan Rodriguez, Rebecca Flores
January 26, 2019

Air Force Veteran Joseph Walker will be laid to rest Monday, and no one is expected to attend.

KILLEEN, Texas — The Central Texas State Veteran’s Cemetery is calling for the public’s attendance at an unaccompanied Texas veteran’s funeral.

Air Force Veteran Joseph Walker will be laid to rest Monday, and no one is expected to attend. The cemetery said they do not know where his family is and they do not want him to be laid to rest alone, so they are asking the public to attend.

A member of Wind Therapy Freedom Riders is also encouraging the public to attend.

"Let's show our respects to an American Veteran," said Luis Rodriguez.

The group of bikers will meet at Rudy's BBQ off I-35 in Round Rock and take off to the burial site at 9 a.m.

"No veteran should be buried alone," Rodriguez explained on a Facebook post.

Mr. Walker served in the Air Force from September 1964 to September 1968.

His funeral will take place Monday at 10 a.m. at the Central Texas State Cemetery.
go here for updates

Unclaimed Tennessee veterans laid to rest with honor

Unclaimed veterans buried with dignity, thanks to strangers

The Associated Press
By: Adrian Sainz, Karen Pulfer Focht
January 20, 2019

Soldiers Arnold M. Klechka, 71, Wesley Russell, 76, and Marine Charles B. Fox, 60, were laid to rest in a service attended by about 700 people at West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery in Memphis on Thursday. There was a gun salute, and a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace.”

In this Jan. 17, 2019, photo, a retired U.S. Marine master gunnery sergeant salutes three Memphis veterans, Wesley Russell, 76, Arnold Klechka, 71, Charles Fox, 60, who died this past fall and whose remains were unclaimed, in Memphis, Tenn. (Karen Pulfer Focht/AP)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When the flags were removed from the caskets and folded with military precision, there were no family members there to receive them.

So, the banners were passed, hand-to-hand, through the crowd.

Some mourners wept as they clutched the flags briefly. Others kissed them. But the three veterans laid to rest on a rainy Memphis morning were strangers to most of those who gathered to honor their memory.

The service was part of a national effort by funeral homes, medical examiners, state and federal veterans' affairs departments, and local veterans' groups to pay final respects to members of the military whose bodies were not claimed by any relatives. Since 2000, Dignity Memorial and other funeral homes in more than 30 cities have organized about 3,000 funerals for soldiers, sailors and Marines who died alone, but still deserved a dignified funeral and burial, said Jeff Berry, Dignity's general manager in Knoxville.
read more here

Unclaimed Veterans Left to Rot in VA Morgue

Bodies Of Unclaimed Veterans Languish At Hines VA Hospital, Whistleblower Claims
CBS News
By Charlie De Mar
September 26, 2016

(CBS) – The bodies of military veterans lay unclaimed for weeks at a time at the Hines VA Hospital, a whistleblower alleges.

Staff from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington are in town looking into that complaint.

CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar reports.

When 68-year-old Marine veteran George Taylor died, no family or friends claimed him. Earlier this month, Jackie Gluekert and her funeral home made sure the hero got a dignified send-off — a burial in an a national cemetery.

“It is a final salute, and I’m proud to do it,” Jackie Glueckert says.

A whistle-blower inside the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital says unclaimed vets aren’t getting the proper goodbye they deserve.

Internal emails obtained by CBS 2 reveal at least two unclaimed vets sat inside the morgue for at least 30 days this summer, allowing the bodies to badly decompose.
read more here

And from the VA rules,

***If a Veteran dies while at a VA facility under authorized VA admission, and the remains are unclaimed, the facility director will ensure proper burial for the Veteran as defined by VHA Handbook 1601B.04, Decedent Affairs, Section 8, “Unclaimed Remains.” If a Veteran dies at a non-VA facility under authorized admission at VA’s expense, and is unclaimed, contact the closest VA healthcare facility to arrange for proper burial of the unclaimed Veteran. A listing is available here.

Formerly unidentified veterans are finally laid to rest

Formerly unidentified veterans are finally laid to rest among friends, family
By Bob Considine/The Star-Ledger
May 19, 2010, 8:33PM

LEONIA — The cremated remains of Herman Henry Reichert, an World War I Army private from Teaneck, had sat in storage at a funeral home for nearly 58 years.

Today, his orphaned ashes and those of 12 other servicemen were finally buried.

The New Jersey Mission of Honor, a statewide veterans group, conducted its largest military funeral to date today with a combined 500 people paying tribute to 13 lost veterans at Overpeck Park in Leonia and later at Doyle Veterans Cemetery in Wrightstown.


Francis Carrasco, the Mission’s chairman, said it can take up to a year to identify and confirm whether remains are those of a veteran. The group, formed 15 months ago, is dedicated to retrieving and burying remains of veterans. He adds their mission has only just begun since New Jersey enacted a law last year allowing the group to pursue the unclaimed ashes of servicemen at state funeral homes.
read more here
Formerly unidentified veterans are finally laid to rest