Two Vietnam Veterans Interred With Huge "Family"

‘They did have family’: More than 100 attend Slidell burial for 2 Vietnam veterans without relatives
New Orleans Advocate
Sara Pagones
February 25, 2016

Advocate Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld
Members of Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle group salute during an interment ceremony
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 at Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Slidell. Claudie 
Ray Shiftlett and John Henry Huber III, both of whom served in the Army during the 
Vietnam war era, had their ashes interred during a ceremony attended by about 150 people.

No grieving relatives gathered at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Slidell on Thursday to share reminiscences or eulogize the two men who were laid to rest under vivid blue skies as American flags fluttered in the morning breeze.

John Henry Huber III, of Metairie, and Claudie Ray Shiflett, of Slidell, had no next of kin to mourn them. But the two Vietnam veterans, both of whom died late last year, were honored by a different kind of family as their ashes were interred: fellow veterans who turned out in large numbers to bear witness to their service to the nation.

Cemetery staff had reached out to Ken Kimberly, chairman of the St. Tammany Parish President’s Veterans & Military Affairs Advisory Council, asking him to spread the word about the ceremony to military and veterans groups.

More than 100 people answered the call, including members of the American Legion, the Buffalo Soldiers, Louisiana Women Veterans and residents who had learned about the interment on social media.
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