Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Unclaimed remains to be laid to rest
A memorial for unclaimed veterans took place Nov. 14 at Evergreen Washelli Funeral Home in Seattle before they were escorted through Adams County to Washington State Veterans Cemetery at Medical Lake outside Medical Lake.
Patriot Guard Riders escorting veterans' remains stopped briefly Nov. 16 at Love's Travel Stop in Ritzville.
RITZVILLE – On a chilly Wednesday morning, Nov. 16, veterans in the Patriot Guard Riders stood in a circle at Love's Travel Stop.
They had gathered to escort the unclaimed remains of 99 U.S. military veterans, 14 spouses and 10 dependent children to Washington State Veterans Cemetery outside Medical Lake.
Their mission was the second part of a two-day event - known as "The Last Mile" - that began in Seattle two days earlier.
On Nov. 14, Evergreen Washelli Funeral Home hosted a ceremony with full military honors in partnership with The Missing in America Project. The memorial included the largest collection of unclaimed veterans, spouses and qualified dependents in the history of that organization.
The Missing in America Project - launched nationwide in January 2007 - seeks to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed remains of American veterans.
The remains have gone unclaimed for decades because their families never made arrangements or they didn't have living family members to arrange a service.
For this memorial, the veterans military service extended as far back as the Spanish American War, with the longest unclaimed remains dating back to 1912.
The veterans to be interred served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Army Air Forces, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines. They died during the Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and other periods not associated with particular wars.
The 99 veterans in this memorial included brothers Glen Whitfield Sutherland and Ray C. Sutherland (Glen was in the Army; Ray was in the Navy Reserves); several veterans who arrived in the U.S. from other countries, such as Switzerland, Norway, Greece, Bulgaria and China; brothers Albert and William Wilkins (Albert served in the Army; William was a Marine); and a father and son - Carl Croson, who served in the Army in World War I, and Kenneth Croson, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II.
At 10 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16, the Patriot Guard Riders carried U.S. flags and military banners to greet the hearse at the travel stop entrance before embarking on the 50-mile trek to Medical Lake, where a formal service took place at the Veterans Cemetery.
The remains will be formally interred sometime next year.
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