When a member of the military dies, they are given a proper military funeral and committal service.
The deceased military is honored with the playing of “Taps”, a rifle detail, a color guard, and the family is presented with the burial flag. All of this is arranged by a family member with the help of the military.
But what if a military member had died and no family member had claimed them? What happens to them now?
Some of them were cremated with their remains shelved in mortuaries because no family or friends have claimed them.
“Sad because so many of these veterans were forgotten for over six decades some of them,” Paul Reyes, American Legion, Post 637, said.
Not anymore.
This September 2019 in Sonoma County, more than 30 unclaimed veterans from World War I, the Vietnam War and the Korean War were given the military funeral they deserve.
Thankfully, there are people like Sonoma Co. Veterans Remains Officer Ronald Collier, who spent the last three years collating information about these shelved military members.
“The task that we do is to go into mortuaries and try to find and identify any veterans that are remaining on the shelf that no one has come and removed,” Officer Collier shared.
In the Sonoma County Mortuary, Officer Collier had to go through 1,600 remains to find the military members they needed to honor.
“I’ve been working on this for three years. We can follow their history through the computer system and social networks and find out when they served, where they served and that’s the important part,” Officer Collier said.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t know any of them. He believed that they must be honored for their sacrifice.
Commander Paul Reyes agreed with Officer Collier.
“You’re given the opportunity to live in the freest country in the world thanks to them. Not anyone else. Not the teachers, not the politicians. It’s this that signed their name on the dotted line,” Commander Reyes said.
And they’re not the only ones who gave respects to unclaimed veterans.
In Memphis, Tennessee, Dignity Memorial and other funeral homes in more than 30 cities have been organizing military funerals for the unclaimed veterans since 2000. According to Jeff Berry, Dignity’s general manager in Knoxville, TN, they have already organized 3,000 military funerals.
The people who come to pay their respects include the members of funeral homes, medical examiners, state and federal veterans’ affairs departments, and local veterans’ groups.
And sometimes, there are strangers who show up. The organizers post the announcements for the military funeral for anyone who may want to pay their respects to these fallen soldiers.
One of them was 69-year-old Amelia Callicott, who attended a service last January 2019.
She didn’t know any of the soldiers but felt she had to be there to honor her father and these men.
“It touched my heart when no one came to claim these gentlemen, these soldiers because they fought for our freedom,” Amelia said. “Any serviceman [are] like family to me… I just can’t see laying them to rest without going and seeing their final moments, to say goodbye.”
At the Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, they also perform military burials for the unclaimed bodies of veterans on the last Thursday every month. They started this service almost ten years ago with the customary bugle, a color guard and three volleys of rifle fire.
Hundreds of people attend the service, including motorcycle biker groups Warriors’ Watch and Patriot Guard, members of the Disabled American Veterans, and local members of the Congress.
Most of them came to thank the veterans for their service.
“It could have been anyone of my relatives that could have died and I wanted somebody to be there for them just like they were here for us to serve our country,” Carol Rathbeger explained. She took a day off from work with her husband to ride the bodies in.
Watch the video below to pay respect to those veterans who sacrificed their lives for their fellow citizens.
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