LAUREL — Yellowstone National Cemetery held its quarterly unaccompanied veteran memorial Wednesday in Laurel.
“No veteran is put to the side when it comes to the national cemetery,” Stephen McCollum, manager of the cemetery, said Wednesday.
Watch video of Yellowstone National Cemetery's unaccompanied veterans memorial ceremony:
McCollum is committed to never letting a veteran lie to rest alone.
“This is something-that the catch phrase is 'No veteran dies alone.' And we mean it,” McCollum said.
According to McCollum, an unaccompanied veteran is someone who had no family to retrieve their remains or take care of them.
“This is how we take care of veterans, and we will never stop doing it,” McCollum said.
Randy Stiles, Veterans of Foreign Wars District 3 commander, emphasized the importance of honoring those veterans.
“I feel that even veterans that are unaccompanied don't have family or for whatever reason, they still need to be honored,” Stiles said.
Stiles said that being a part of this ceremony gave him a sense of pride.
“Being out here and being part of that gives me great pride, but also, I'm kind of paying it back to those who fought for our country,” Stiles said.
That sense of pride was a common feeling for those around.
“I think the Americanism came out and the pride of being an American and that their family member was a service member and that we're still doing stuff for them even though they're not here anymore,” Stiles said.
Veterans stood shoulder to shoulder in tribute to lay down those who have passed away.
Four unaccompanied veterans, Richard Mundt, Kevin Nelson, David Hargett Sr., and Hugh Frankson, were laid to rest Wednesday July 16.
For those in attendance, many did not know who they were.
That included Mike Anderson, who made sure to be there to honor them.
“It just tells people that if served that they won't be forgotten,” Anderson said.
