Former US marine Gerry Brooks died alone at a nursing home in Maine, all but forgotten. Then the funeral home posted a notice asking if anyone would serve as a pallbearer or simply attend his burial.
Within minutes, it was turning away volunteers to carry his casket. A bagpiper came forward to play at the service. A pilot offered to perform a flyover. Military groups across the state pledged a proper sendoff.
Hundreds of people who knew nothing about the 86-year-old beyond his name showed up on a sweltering afternoon and gave Brooks a final salute with full military honors on Thursday at the Maine Veterans’ Memorial cemetery in Augusta.
Patriot Guard Riders on motorcycles escorted his hearse on the 40-mile route from the funeral home in Belfast, Maine, to the cemetery. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars paid tribute with a 21-gun salute. Volunteers held American flags alongside the casket while a crane hoisted a huge flag above the cemetery entrance.
“It’s an honor for us to be able to do this,” said Jim Roberts, commander of the VFW post in Belfast. “There’s so much negativity in the world. This is something people can feel good about and rally around. It’s just absolutely wonderful.”
So many groups volunteered to take part in paying tribute that there wasn’t enough time to fit them into the 20-minute burial service, said Katie Riposta, the funeral director who put out the call for help last week.
“It renews your faith in humanity,” she said.
More than 8 million US veterans are 65 or older, almost half the veteran population, and they are overwhelmingly men, according to a US Census Bureau report last year.
Last year, the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched an initiative to combat loneliness among veterans, noting that many do not receive regular visitors or phone calls and are more likely to phone crisis hotlines or present themselves at emergency departments.
“Many of our veterans feel a loss of connection soon after discharge or during the latter stages of life, when many of their family and friends have moved or passed away,” said Dr Indira Subramanian, a VA neurologist.
Much about Brooks’s life is unknown.
He was widowed and had lived in Augusta before he died on 18 May, less than a week after entering a nursing home, Riposta said. A cause of death was not released.
The funeral home and authorities were able to reach his next of kin, but no one was willing to come forward or take responsibility for his body, she said.
“It sounds like he was a good person, but I know nothing about his life,” Riposta said.
“It doesn’t matter if he served one day or made the military his career,” she said. “He still deserves to be respected and not alone.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting
• The subheading of this article was amended to correct the spelling of Gerry Brooks’s first name.
