Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery hosted a ceremony Wednesday to honor veterans who have died but did not have family members who could be reached.
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The ceremony honored seven veterans:
Air Force Veteran A1C James Sellers
Army Veteran SPC Warren Weaver
Coast Guard Veteran SR Charles Somers
Navy Veteran BTFA Mitchell Mullins
Army Veteran PV1 Hayword Vidal
Army Veteran SP4 Hance Bond
Marine Corps Veteran Marcos Guerrero
The Department of Veterans Affairs says some veterans outlive all known relatives or are not in touch with them.
"This is the last thing we can provide, you might say," says DFW National Cemetery Director Larry Williams. "Doing this, to me, is an honor. It's something they deserve."
Patriot Guard Riders carried the urns of each veteran.
"The takeaway today is all military service is valuable whether there's family left behind or not and whether we know the names of the veterans or not," says Ride Captain Neal Puckett.
Puckett is a retired Marine lieutenant colonel. Patriot Guard works at services at DFW National Cemetery every week, but he says he hopes the ceremony Wednesday could show the importance of remembering veterans whether they have family nearby or not.
During the ceremony, he read the poem, "The Dash," by Linda Ellis. In the poem, a man gets up to speak at a funeral and says the dates on a tombstone, but he says what mattered most was the "dash between those years."
"For that dash represents all the time
That they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
Know what that little line is worth," the poem reads.
"Although they may be anonymous to us, we know how important it was, if nothing else, they served their country," Puckett says. "It's important to honor their service and sacrifice."
Puckett says the veterans sacrificed twice by donating their bodies for research.
More than 81,000 people are buried or have their urns at DFW National Cemetery. There are six national cemeteries in Texas.
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