Veteran Buried, No Family Member In Attendance...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

MISSION, Texas | Two hundred and twenty-seven. Put that number into your head: 227. That's the number of military veterans who have been buried at the local veteran's cemetery without a single family member being present.

It's an odd story.

A weekend report in The McAllen Monitor had this: [ U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Don R. Marcell was the 227th unaccompanied veteran to be buried Thursday through the Veterans Land Board.

Marcell was born on Jan. 30, 1934, and served from October 1951 to October 1955 and received the National Defense Service Medal for his service. Because Marcell’s family wasn’t in attendance for his burial, the director of the Texas State Veterans Cemetery Program, Dr. John Kelley, accepted Marcell’s burial flag on his family’s behalf.

The veterans cemetery is just one of four in the state with another being built in Lubbock. Killeen, Corpus Christi and Abilene are home to the other three, according to Kelley. Kelley, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, added that the program sees about one-and-a-half unaccompanied burials per month.

He added that the program is seeing an increase in burials because Vietnam veterans are reaching their 70s and 80s and more of them are dying.

"I saw a statistic recently. Nationwide, we’re losing 300 veterans a day and most of them are Vietnam veterans," Kelley said.

Kelley believes another reason they’re seeing more veterans die is due to homelessness, stating that he didn’t know Marcell, only what he accomplished during his time serving in the Air Force.

"We don’t know his circumstance in life that came today to the point of not having a next of kin, but what we do know is he honorably and faithfully served his country and we know this community supports him by the very presence here today," Kelley said. ]

Sounds like a noble and laudable offering from these veterans.

But it does make you wonder if any of the 227 were from the Rio Grande Valley, a land where "family" is big. That a Valley veteran would not have family present at his or her burial is unheard of. Rare, I'd add.

This particular U.S. Air Force veteran had no one.

Not one family member.

Beyond sad, I know...

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