FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — The Fort Leonard Wood community gathered Aug. 1 at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery - Fort Leonard Wood to make sure two unclaimed veterans were laid to rest with full military honors.
“When an unaccompanied American hero is laid to rest, our community gathers as his family, to pay our respects,” said Daniel Poirier, Missing in America Project volunteer. “It is unbelievable that these gentlemen had to wait so long for their final salute.”
The veterans, recovered from Douglas County, Missouri, included Pvt. Bryan Cornell, who served during World War I, and Navy Seaman Recruit Orie Leroy Bowcott, who served during the post-Vietnam period.
According to Poirier, MIAP’s purpose is, “to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans through the joint efforts of private, state and federal organizations, (and) to provide honor, respect and dignity to those who have served this country by securing a final resting place for these forgotten veterans.”
Retired Sgt. 1st Class Don Gerspach, MIAP national director, served as keynote speaker during the service.
“It is an honor to be able to participate in the service for Cornell and Bowcott,” Gerspach said. “We visit funeral homes and work with their staff to inventory their unclaimed cremains. We have found unclaimed veterans from as far back as the Civil and Spanish-American wars. It is quite an honor to do that. We feel that it is necessary and required for someone to identify them, verify them through the Veterans Affairs administration and provide them with an appropriate military honors funeral. They earned that right when they served the nation.”
Since 2007, MIAP has found more than 6,800 veterans and their family members, according to Gerspach.
“There could be 11,500 to 52,600 veterans that remained unclaimed across the United States,” Gerspach said. “We will eventually find them all. My grandchildren will be reading my instructions on how to find unclaimed veterans.”
An honors team with the Missouri Army National Guard rendered military funeral honors for Cornell and a Navy honors team with the Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering Detachment Fort Leonard Wood rendered military funeral honors for Bowcott.
The crowd stood solemnly silent as Soldiers from the Missouri Army National Guard delivered a ceremonial rifle volley and Sgt. Eric Trevino, with the 399th Army Band, performed “Taps.”
Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood commanding general, accepted Cornell’s flag on behalf of the Army.
Stacy Wilson, cemetery director for the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery - Fort Leonard Wood closed the service by thanking MIAP and the Fort Leonard Wood community for demonstrating, “commitment to paying tribute to the brave men and women who have fought for our nation.”
She said we must never forget the sacrifices that are made for our country.
“It is our duty to ensure they receive the recognition they deserve and are never forgotten. Thank you for being their family today,” Wilson said.
Following Wilson’s remarks, community members escorted the veterans’ urns to their final resting place in the cemetery’s columbarium.
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