Teens step forward to serve as pallbearers for veteran with no family

[steve58]

Apparently there is hope for our youth...

Navy veteran Jerry Wayne Pino died on Dec. 12th in Long Beach, Mississippi.  He was 70 years old.

We don't know that much about Jerry. He was born in Baton Rouge and joined the Navy in New Orleans. He was a petty officer third class in Vietnam. That's the extent of his biography.

No family. No friends. He died alone.

Jerry's body lay unclaimed for several weeks at Riemann Family Funeral Homes.

"No one stepped forward," funeral home worker Cathy Warden told me. "He just didn't have any family."

Miss Cathy explained the situation to her colleague Eva Boomer and together they decided something must be done to give this veteran a proper send off.

"Something had to be done with respect," Miss Cathy said. "We had to give him what he deserved. Nobody should go alone."

Miss Eva, who is also a veteran, wondered if some of the boys at Long Beach High School might be willing to serve as pallbearers. It was a longshot, though, seeing how most of the students were out on Christmas break.

But Miss Cathy called her teenage son Bryce who in turn texted some of his friends – and within a matter of minutes, six young men had volunteered to serve at a stranger's funeral.

Nobody should go alone.

"It was the right thing to do," 17-year-old Bailey Griffin told me. "He served our country. He fought for our rights. For him to be buried with nobody there was just sad. I told myself I was going to do it and I did it."



http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/01/03/teens-step-forward-to-serve-as-pallbearers-for-veteran-with-no-family.html

[Barthheart]

 :clap:

[bayonetbrant]

O0

[MetalDog]

Outstanding!!   :clap:

[Bison]

That's a great story, but there should be a military unit assigned to perform funeral detail in the area.  Good for the young men, but where is the Navy?

[bayonetbrant]

Good for the young men, but where is the Navy?

Maybe the teachers didn't know who to contact?

If one of them is a veteran, you'd think she'd know who to call at the VA, but I don't know if they always provide a full detail.

At one military funeral, I was the entire funeral detail: I presented a pre-folded flag to the next of kin, and I had a recording of Taps that we played over a small PA system, but the funeral home provided the pallbearers.

[Sir Slash]

Had something similar happen where I live. About a year ago one of the downtown antique shops closed when the owner died. The new owner found a vase containing someone's ashes hidden in the shop. Through the local funeral home he was able to find out who the remains belonged to and their next of kin out of state. Seems the deceased wanted her ashes sent to relatives but her boyfriend, the shop owner didn't want to part with her and kept her death and cremation a secret until he died. The new shop owner did a very good deed to get her remains to her family as she originally wanted.  O0

[bbmike]

Good for the young men, but where is the Navy?

Maybe the teachers didn't know who to contact?

If one of them is a veteran, you'd think she'd know who to call at the VA, but I don't know if they always provide a full detail.

At one military funeral, I was the entire funeral detail: I presented a pre-folded flag to the next of kin, and I had a recording of Taps that we played over a small PA system, but the funeral home provided the pallbearers.

If I recall correctly I think there was (is still?) a problem with finding actual people that could play Taps in situations like this and that's why recordings are used.

[bayonetbrant]

This was in '96