A poignant ceremony honors fallen veterans who died alone.

Pam Marino here, sharing a very special tribute that took place at the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery on Tuesday, March 25. It was a moment of grace and compassion in a world where sometimes it feels like those things are in short supply.

About 100 people gathered at the cemetery on what was a very warm spring day to honor six men nearly all of them had never met or even heard of. 

The men were all veterans who had died in the past several years here in Monterey County but there was no one to claim their remains. They died alone—two of the men were homeless at the time they passed. 

“They seemingly passed away alone and unacknowledged, but they were not left behind,” said Jack Murphy, veterans services officer for Monterey and San Benito counties, in his opening remarks during the ceremony. “Veterans don’t forget. We don’t leave anyone behind.”

The ceremony was made possible by a policy change at the National Cemetery Administration, part of the Veterans Administration, last year. Indigent veterans are now allowed to be buried or interred at veterans cemeteries, as long as they were honorably discharged.

Murphy worked with the Monterey County Coroner’s Office and cemetery officials to coordinate the interments. Veterans groups and others helped with coordination and participation in the event, complete with a rifle salute and a live performance of Taps. 

You can read a detailed account and view more photos in this story, including the names of each of the men, their branches of service and a little bit about each of their lives.

Perhaps one of the most poignant moments of the ceremony was when a member of the U.S. Army Color Guard from the Presidio of Monterey presented to Murphy a folded U.S. flag, as he stood in for what would normally would be a loved one accepting the flag during a military burial.

“It was important for the community to come together and honor the service of the lives of those six veterans,” Murphy says. “They passed away in unfortunate conditions and they didn’t have the opportunity to be recognized and thanked.”

After reviewing the men’s coroner reports and service records, Murphy believes they likely suffered from PTSD and other ailments which led them to dying without connection to family and friends. The men ranged from Vietnam-era to early Gulf War veterans. The youngest was 60 when he passed, the oldest was 81.

Murphy will continue such ceremonies for indigent veterans in the future, although I know he’d rather they not be needed at all.