Thirteen unclaimed Veteran remains have been honored in a funeral service in northern Louisiana. A crowd of people who didn’t know them paid their respects and looked on.

According to a news release by the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, most of the 13 veterans served in the Vietnam War while one fought in the Gulf War.

The service resulted from the passion of Caddo Parish Death Investigator Katrina Wright. A nurse asked at a local hospital to find a veteran’s family who had died. After a strong effort to find his relatives, there was no family to claim him. The veteran’s remains went to the coroner’s office. Wright was displeased with this.

“I didn’t understand how this could happen to people who fought for this country,” she said.

This led Wright to work with Christina Currington from the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs. Together, they started researching other unfortunate veterans whose remains had not been claimed by family.

The Veterans Who Were Laid To Rest

Army PV1 Mark Vincent Fox, died Oct. 5, 2012;

Army Sgt. 1st Class Ernest Roy Dill, died May 26, 2018;

Army Sgt. Perry Jenkins Jr., who died May 28, 2019;

Army Spec. 4, Phillip Gregory Vogelman, died Feb. 10, 2019;

Army PV2 Charles Emmett Whittington II, died Jan. 16, 2017;

Army PFC Clifton Williams, died Jun. 23, 2014;

Air Force Airman 1st Class Terrance Keith Hunt, died Jan. 18, 2016;

Marine Corps PFC Frances Marion Neely, died Feb. 10, 2015;

Navy Seaman James Edward Rountree, died Aug. 5, 2016;

Navy Seaman Recruit Harvey Lee Ramsey, died Nov. 19, 2014;

Navy Seaman Recruit Johnnie Ferrell Watkins, died Mar. 3, 2016;

Navy Seaman Recruit/Army PV1 Edward Troy Rash Jr., died Jun. 6, 2017.

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