ROSS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The remains of seven mid-Michigan veterans who did not have family members to arrange their burials were laid to rest by their fellow service members in Fort Custer National Cemetery Friday morning.
Their lives were honored with prayer and military honors. Fellow veterans, active duty service members, police and fire crews paid their respects as each urn was delivered to the ceremony near Augusta.
“I know that we are absolutely doing the right thing. We wait and do this once a year. We want to make sure that we lay everybody to rest at the same time because we’d like to do a large ceremony we want to give them everything that they deserve,” said Michelle Fox, chief investigator at the office of the medical examiner through the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow in Lansing.
She said the duty of caring for these veterans, referred to as ‘unaccompanied,’ starts from the moment of death. First, staff memners work diligently to find surviving family members. If no one can be found or the next of kin cannot take care of final arrangements, the office works with funeral homes and the Department of Defense. When a person is are found to be eligible to be interred at the national cemetery, cremated remains are held until the annual ceremony for such veterans, which is a long-standing tradition organized by the medical examiner’s office and Fort Custer Cemetery staff.