Missing In America Project buries 17 unclaimed or homeless veterans

Unclaimed, homeless veterans laid to rest

KVOA NBC 4 News
April 27, 2019

MARANA — Under bright blue skies, dozens gather at the Arizona Veterans Cemetery in Marana Saturday.

The Southern Arizona Missing In America Project buries 17 unclaimed or homeless veterans complete with a ceremony of appreciation.

“It’s closure for them and it’s the promise of closure for us,” Ross Scanio, an Iraq veteran and spokesman for the Missing In America Project said. “It’s difficult to quantify the impact of being in combat and losing your fellow service members or just the carnage that is war.”

Servicemen folded American flags and presented them to veterans in attendance including Carl Randall.

Randall served in both Korea and Vietnam.

Last fall he and his wife lived in Paradise, California.

They lost their home and dozens of neighbors to the ferocious Camp Fire.
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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.
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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.
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Vietnam Vet Charles "Billy" Johnson laid to rest by "brothers"

Veteran with no family honored by Tennessee vets

WSMV 4 News
Posted on Apr 17, 2019

A funeral was scheduled Wednesday for a Vietnam Veteran in Nashville, knowing he had no living family or close friends that would attend.

So, the VA Hospital in Murfreesboro sent out an open invitation for anyone to come.

Family doesn't have to be blood relatives, the family here today was veterans.

No one deserves an unattended funeral.

Certainly not Vietnam Vet Charles "Billy" Johnson.

When local veterans heard about this April 17th service, Veterans Cemetery in West Nashville invited anyone who cared about those who served.

"Kind of warmed my heart a little bit to see all these people here to pay final respects."
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Hundreds attended funeral for "Lone Soldier" Alex Sasaki in Israel

Laguna Beach ‘lone soldier’ dies in Israel; hundreds attend his funeral in show of support

Los Angeles Times
Faith E Pinho
April 5, 2019

“With a lone soldier, you never know how many people will be there. And there were just so many people from so many walks of life,” Rodnitzki said. “It was unclear how many of the other soldiers who served with him could join. But so many did and so many had such beautiful remarks to share.”

Alex Sasaki of Laguna Beach served as a lone soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces. He was found dead in his home last week at age 27. Hundreds attended his funeral in Jerusalem after a call on social media from fellow soldiers to support his family. (Alex Sasaki's Facebook page)

A Laguna Beach man who followed his love of Israel overseas died last week, triggering an outpouring on social media that resulted in hundreds attending his funeral in Jerusalem.

Alex Sasaki, 27, served in the Israeli Defense Forces’ Golani infantry brigade as a “lone soldier,” without family in the country. He was found dead in his home while off duty, and military police are investigating the cause of death, the IDF said in an email.
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This part should be read by anyone who believed the BS book Tribe by Sebastian Junger, who claimed that PTSD is a "disorder of transition" and that troops in Israel do not have the same problems.

"Sasaki’s death followed those of two lone soldiers who died by suicide in the past three months, according to Tzivka Graiver, chairman of Keep Olim, an immigrant advocacy nonprofit in Israel."

Considering the reports are all over Wounded Times, it shows that Junger did not do basic research and nations do not do basic outreach for their troops or veterans.

Unsolved Mysteries "Gabby's Bones" given proper military funeral in Wyoming

Murdered WWII vet's body found in Wyoming, given military funeral

KGWN News
April 3, 2019

The story also got national attention on the former NBC-TV true crime series "Unsolved Mysteries" during a February 1993 episode, featuring "Gabby's Bones."

Wyoming Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors team members conduct a flag ceremony for Technician 5 Joseph Mulvaney, who received long-overdue honors March 29, 2019 at a memorial service in Cody, Wyoming.

Mulvaney, an Illinois Army National Guard member when he deployed to the Pacific Theater for World War II, was murdered in Iowa in 1963. His remains were discovered in Thermopolis, Wyoming in 1992. It was not until 2017 that he was identified, through DNA testing, as the grandfather of Waukee, Iowa resident Shelley Statler. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy McGuire)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (WYANG) - The Wyoming Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors team conducted full military rites, which included a 21-gun salute, during a long-overdue memorial service in Cody, Wyoming, for Joseph Junior Mulvaney.

Mulvaney was an Illinois Army National Guard Technician 5 when he deployed to the Pacific Theater during World War II. His story has been an interesting one, and some key players in discovering it were in attendance at the March 29 service including a granddaughter and her family, homicide investigators and a DNA analyst.

The rest of the story, gleaned from various sources, follows.

In 1987 a man named John David Morris, also known as Gabby, left an old military padlocked footlocker in a shed at Newell Sessions' Thermopolis, Wyoming property. Morris said he would return for it when he settled down.

About five years later and still no sign of Morris, curiosity got to Sessions. He cut through the padlock with a torch and opened the trunk. In it, he found a human skeleton, wrapped in a piece of plastic, a belt and a rotting grocery bag.
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Vietnam veteran Neil Schaffer, lived on skid row, honored at City Hall

Vietnam Veteran Who Died in Skid Row Honored Outside City Hall

NBC 4 News
By City News Service
Published Mar 14, 2019

Neil Schaffer died of cancer last year in room at the Madison Hotel.

Friends of a homeless Vietnam veteran who died last year after living for decades in the Skid Row neighborhood organized a brief military memorial for him Thursday on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall.

Vietnam Veteran Neil Schaffer was remembered at Los Angeles City Hall.

Neil Schaffer, whose friends said he fell through the cracks of society but lived a quiet, peaceful life, died of cancer last Aug. 19 in a room at the Madison Hotel.

Some Skid Row residents raised the funds for Schaffer's cremation, and the ceremony included the release of a dove.

Retired U.S. Air Force Chaplain Doc Cohen, who oversaw the ceremony, said Schaffer served in the military as a carpenter from 1971 to 1973 before being honorably discharged.

"And then it all went downhill. And he struggled. He tried, he got a job, he lost a job, whatever he could do, it wasn't enough, and he died on the streets right here in L.A.," Cohen said.

Another ceremony will be held at Los Angeles National Cemetery on March 31, Cohen said.

The Los Angeles National Cemetery has been closed to new interments of servicemen for decades, but Schaffer's ashes will among the first interred in a columbarium that is opening up there this summer, Cohen said.

Eriq Moreno was one of the friends of Schaffer who helped organize the City Hall service. Although he has a home and career now, Moreno said he met Schaffer about 17 years ago in Skid Row when he was homeless.

"He offered me shelter, and he became a really close friend and a father figure mostly, because I never had one," Moreno said. "When his situation with his health got worse, I knew I had to be there all the way, and I was, and he kind of left me in charge of his arrangements. He made a good change in the world and I just wanted someone to acknowledge that."
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Sarasota National Cemetery honors unclaimed veterans

Veterans with no family are laid to rest at Sarasota National Cemetery

WWSB ABC 7 News
By Kamara Daughtry
March 10, 2019

SARASOTA (WWSB) - The Sarasota National Cemetery holds “Unclaimed Veteran” services once a week to honor those who’ve served our country.

A Veterans Affairs pension or other compensation is no longer a pre-requisite for “Unclaimed Veterans” to receive burial benefits. Unclaimed veterans are defined as those who die with no next of kin to claim their remains and insufficient funds to cover burial expenses.

ABC 7 covered the event Facebook live to show residents on Thurs. March 7, around 11:30 a.m., on volunteers around the Suncoast who paid their respects. The Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus organization came together to lay two Marines to rest, one soldier and one airman.

The Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus ensures that the veterans have a proper burial at no cost.

John Rosentrater, Director of the Sarasota National Cemetery told ABC7 burials occur at least once a week and veterans from all over the Suncoast come to the service and accept the flag as their “kin.”

A funeral home usually contacts the National Cemetery when an unclaimed veteran needs to be laid to rest and is reimbursed for their efforts. The PDF document listed here shows the Unclaimed Veteran Remains Casket or Urn Reimbursement Program.

For more information about the Sarasota National Cemetery contact (941) 922-7200.
go here for video report

On leave for husband's funeral after suicide, soldier did the same

Following his husband’s suicide, a soldier took his own life while on leave for the funeral

Army Times
By: Meghann Myers
6 days ago

A 21-year-old soldier died Feb. 5 while stateside visiting home, according to a release from the Army. It was the day after a funeral for his husband, according to their obituaries.

Pvt. Aaron Mitchell was found dead in Valley, Nebraska, 12 days after his husband, 21-year-old Rich Rosa, died by suicide.

“We’re just grieving,” Rosa’s father, Richard Rosa, told Army Times in a Wednesday phone interview, acknowledging that the family believes the deaths were by suicide. “We are without words to express how much we’re grieving and how much grief we feel.”

Rich Rosa, a civilian, had been living in the couple’s native Nebraska while Mitchell was in South Korea on an unaccompanied assignment, in which family members do not move with the soldier.

Both families requested donations to a suicide prevention or veterans organization in obituaries posted by Roeder Mortuaries in Omaha.
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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.
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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.
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Vietnam Veteran Peter Turnpu Laid to Rest With Honor

Mourners pay respects at funeral of veteran with no family

ABC 13 News
Gary Hall
January 18, 2019

"He was a veteran and we are all brothers at heart. He didn't have no family, he didn't have no relatives and that's why we are here for him," said Jack McGrath.

WRIGHTSTOWN, N.J. -- On Friday, strangers became family to a veteran who died all alone with no known family.

Most had never heard his name and didn't know his life story but they showed up by the dozens to pay respect and say goodbye to 77-year-old Peter Turnpu. Leroy Wooster of Wooster Funeral Home and Cremation Service said, "We have to give honor to those who have served and Peter would have had no one here if we didn't reach out." Wooster said when he heard about Turnpu's death, he couldn't just let the Vietnam veteran be buried alone. He paid for the funeral and invited the community to attend the service.
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Family of Argo Buchanan, Flag has been found

UPDATE

Found burial flag reunited with family of fallen WWII veteran

Veteran discovers military burial flag, now is searching for rightful owners

KIVITV
Jessica Taylor
January 13, 2019

HOMEDALE, Idaho — One veteran's cleanup project in Nampa led to another's missing treasure.

While cleaning out a home in Nampa, veteran David Slawson Sr. found a military burial flag. 

All he had was the name of the owner, Mr. Argo Buchanan, but he says he knew immediately how special the flag was.

If you know any family members connected to this flag, please email us (news@kivitv.com) or reach out to us on our Facebook page.

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Kentucky veteran William Lucey laid to rest with honor

Community honors veteran without family

The News-Enterprise
TREY CRUMBIE
Jan 9, 2019

After learning a U.S. Army veteran would be buried without family present, Rick Lee of Elizabethtown said he was going to be there.

(Trey Crumbie The News-Enterprise)

“I’m a veteran,” he said. “I’m going to respect the veterans.”

Dozens of people gathered Tuesday afternoon at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery-Central in Radcliff to honor a veteran who had no family listed.

“No veteran should ever have to be buried without somebody being there to represent them,” said Lee, who also is a member of American Legion Hardin Post 113.

Lee served in the military police and personnel administration for 30 years. He said he first joined the military after being raised around “coal mines and strip jobs” in Pennsylvania.

“I looked up one day and said, ‘Lord, I ain’t gonna live like this,” he said. “(I) raised the hand and went in.”

Many details on the veteran buried were not available as of Tuesday evening. According to an official from Spring Valley Funeral Home in New Albany, Indiana, the veteran was William Lucey, 61. Lucey was born Aug. 27, 1957, in Louisville. He joined the Army in 1974 and was honorably discharged about a year later. He died Dec. 2.
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If you take a knee to National Anthem, you may want to think again

Children of fallen service members were sent off with a crowd at the airport singing the National Anthem. Yet we still have people in this country who think protesting during the anthem is OK and sends a message. Did they ever wonder what kind of message they were delivering?

"But when they announced them over the loud speaker and they lined up to board the plane the whole airport literally stopped and sang the national anthem with military present in salute. Most every person standing around, myself included was bawling at the sight of these kids and spouses who have paid so great a price for our country. To see all of this at Christmas time was so humbling. 

The vacations for the Gold Star families were coordinated by the Gary Sinise Foundation's Snowball Express Program. According to a press release provided by the organization, the foundation will "host a five-day experience for 1,722 children of the fallen and their surviving parent or guardian. This therapeutic retreat will offer fun and inspiring programs, encouraging critical peer-to-peer support for these families." read more here from FOX

These children remember the flag that was placed over their parent's coffin. The one that folded and placed into their other parent's hands and then held tightly in their arms. They remember the flag that is on display in a case next to the picture of the parent they will never be held by again.

Much like all the following, the message they receive from the protestors is not as harmless as the protestors claim.

Boy from iconic wartime photo pays it forward at Christmas

'Taps' for Canadensis soldier: Military funeral honors Monroe's first death in Afghanistan war - News - poconorecord.com - Stroudsburg, PA

Danielle Huggins, widow of Army Staff Sgt. Jamie L. Huggins 

You can search for more images in case you are still wondering what the flag means to them...because if you take a knee the next time during the Anthem, they'll know what it means to you.

President Bush "Congratulations on receiving your wings of gold,"

Ailing George H.W. Bush Did a Last 'CAVU' Favor for Pence's Marine Son

Military.com
By Richard Sisk
December 3, 2018

Vice President Mike Pence recalled Monday how he asked a last favor from an ailing George H.W. Bush in August on behalf of his son, Marine 1st Lt. Michael Pence -- never expecting that the former president would be able to comply.

The young Pence had just made his first tailhook carrier landing on the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, earning his wings as a Marine pilot. Could the former president please autograph a photo for his son?

Pence said Bush's staff replied that he was no longer signing autographs, so he thought that was the end of it. But within a week, a handwritten letter and a signed photo from Bush arrived.

"Congratulations on receiving your wings of gold," Bush wrote to Pence's son. "Though we have not met, I wish you many days of CAVU ahead" -- a reference to the Navy acronym meaning "Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited" that he adopted as his motto in public service.

Pence told the story upon the arrival of Bush's casket at the Capitol as an example of the former president's basic decency and humility. Even in death, Bush performed another public service in the form of a brief respite from the partisan infighting and mudslinging of the warring factions of the White House and Congress.
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Sully will go to Walter Reed after President Bush's Funeral

"Sully went to work with Bush this summer after former first lady Barbara Bush passed away earlier this year."

Washington (CNN) Sully, a yellow Labrador service dog who worked with late former President George H.W. Bush, is accompanying his master one last time by traveling to Washington with Bush's casket.

In a photo tweeted by Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman, Sully can be seen sitting directly in front of Bush's casket at a Texas funeral home Monday morning, his head bowed in unison with the Bush family members that surround him.

A highly trained service dog, Sully will now go back into service to help other veterans and is going to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, former President George W. Bush wrote in an Instagram post.

After 8 Years in National Guard Iraq Veteran Dies

Heartbroken family searching for answers after veteran’s suspected overdose death

The Citizen's Voice
BY BOB KALINOWSKI
PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 6, 2018

The Citizens’ Voice interviewed Houck the day his unit, Bravo Battery of the 109th Field Artillery, left for Iraq in September 2008 for a yearlong deployment. His twin sons, then 9-months-old, were in a stroller by his side for the departure.

A local family is mourning the death of an Iraq war veteran from a suspected drug overdose.

Stephen Houck, who served eight years in a local Pennsylvania Army National Guard unit, was found dead inside his Wilkes-Barre apartment on Thursday. He was 32.

Funeral services with military honors will be held today at the Kielty-Moran Funeral Home in Plymouth following a viewing 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“I was so proud of him. I told him how proud of him I was,” Houck’s mother Gloria Blizzard said Monday about her son’s military service.

Houck, a Larksville native, is suspected of taking a lethal dose of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and heroin, she said.

Blizzard, 70, of Noxen Twp., reached out to The Citizens’ Voice to notify the paper about the military funeral and a police investigation into her son’s death.
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Homeless Veteran William Eugene Weeks Buried with Honor

Oklahoma homeless veteran laid to rest, honored with dignified military services

KOKO News
October 24, 2018

OKLAHOMA CITY
An Oklahoma homeless veteran was laid to rest Wednesday in Oklahoma City. He was given full military honors. Go here for video