Sheriff Woody gives final salute to deceased veterans
Jeremy M. Lazarus | 1/22/2016, 6:55 a.m.
Two soldiers and a sailor who died in Richmond will be buried next week with full military honors thanks to help from Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr.
He is teaming up with the state Department of Veterans Services to inter the three enlisted men in the Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Amelia County at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26.
The men had no connection to the city jail. Their bodies had been unclaimed by family and friends, the sheriff said.
“While they may have lost contact with loved ones, they most certainly have not lost the gratitude of the nation for their service,” he said.
Their cremated remains have been held at Chiles Funeral Home in Richmond as investigations were undertaken to determine their background, according to Tony Pham, an attorney for the Sheriff’s Office.
Mr. Pham said that with help from the state veterans agency and the nonprofit Missing in America website, it has been determined that the trio were honorably discharged veterans who qualified for burial in a state veterans cemetery.
The urns containing their ashes will be buried in a single coffin, but there will be a marker for each veteran, Mr. Pham said.
He declined to disclose the names of the men. He said that at the request of the veterans agency, the names would not be released until after the service.
