Two dozen previously unclaimed Veterans were put to rest at the Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery at Marana earlier this month.
The veterans were interred at a special ceremony on April 13 hosted by the Missing In America Project (MIAP), a national organization dedicated to locating, identifying and interring unclaimed veterans.
“Help us remember those who lived and died protecting the freedom of mankind,” said MIAP member Kurt Hinson. “Let this day be a day of commemoration and remembrance.”
Speakers at the ceremony talked about the importance of never leaving a service member behind, whether in life or in death, and how each paid a price for their service.
“We never leave a man or woman behind in the field of battle, but imagine being left behind in your own country—forgotten, ignored, literally sitting on a shelf in a mortuary,” said guest speaker Ben Buehler-Garcia. “These 24 veterans we are interring today, I don’t know if they fell on the fields of battle but that doesn’t matter to me. They wrote a blank check to the rest of us and I appreciate that we can be here today to fulfill that promise to never leave a man or woman behind.”
Members of MIAP read off each veterans’ name, ensuring that each would no longer be forgotten.
The 24 veterans interred by MIAP were:
•PFC David Barber- USA Vietnam
•AR Dennis Claborn- USN
•PFC Michael C. Cowen- USA
•A03 David R. Carver- USN
•PFC Lawrence Crowley- USA Vietnam
•Sgt. Orval D. Day- USN
•ETN2 Carl G. Feldelski- USN Vietnam
•PFC James A. Frederick- USA Vietnam
•PFC Patricia Hardesty- USA
•A1C Michael P Harjung- USA
•FSFM3 Donald Laurie- USN Vietnam
•CPL Gregory LeCompte- USA
•A03 Charles R. Mayes USN
•1st Rose Mary McPhail- USAF
•LT. Lina C. Morgan- USAR
•SP4 Tommy M. Noack- USA Vietnam
•DK2 Dennis M. O’Donnell- USN Vietnam
•Sgt. Kenneth E. Reames- USA
•OS3 Neal J. Rolf- USN
•SP4 Floyd A Schwalm Jr.- USA Vietnam Bronze Star
•HTFN Daniel J. Speth- USN
•SPC Stephen Svien- USA Persian Gulf
•SP4 Jerry L. Westbrook- USA
•SP4 Donald R. Whitler- USA Vietnam
The veterans were given full military honors at the ceremony while surrounded by family and the community.
“May your dedication and honor be remembered as a blessing for generation after generation,” said MIAP Chaplain Liz Bartel.
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