Veterans remembered at recent tribute funeral

EPHRATA - About 38 veterans received the funeral honors they didn't receive when they were buried.

The Washington Army National Guard and the Moses Lake and Ephrata American Legion Posts held a veteran's memorial tribute recently. The events started about a year ago for veterans who didn't receive funeral honors at the time of their funeral.

Sgt. Jason Goodman explained the team is given a new list of deceased veterans from the Veterans Administration. The team searches for veterans who didn't receive funeral honors when they were buried. The list is divided by city and the team travels to the area and performs the ceremony.

"We're honoring their service that they gave their country," he said.

The ceremony includes reading the veterans' names, ringing a bell and a moment of silence after each name. An American Legion color guard performed a 21-gun salute and taps.

Richard Radder, a Moses Lake American Legion Post member, said they try to make sure veterans receive the proper honors after they die. They've performed the services in Moses Lake, Soap Lake, Othello and Electric City.

"These are the ones that fall through the cracks," he said. "We try to get everybody. We find out, sometimes relatives let us know. It's a challenge every day ... Some of the next of kin who come to us, and maybe a grandfather, a grandmother, a father, an uncle, aunt ... they bring it to our attention, or if I'm downstairs in my office and I get a widow coming to me, and she hasn't had services I will put that in the computer too, so the next time we have a list we'll do that."

The reaction to the tributes has been fantastic, Radder said.

"It's hard to say what they feel inside. They feel like finally justice has prevailed," he said. "They have been honored. Prior to that, they thought they were forgotten, and when they see this happen, we try to go out of our way to find these deceased veterans, there are not words that can really articulate how they feel."

Pfc. Marco Cerda said more people are attending the tributes as the National Guard continues them.

"We try to do one once a month in the Tri-Cities, and then we've gone all the way to Grand Coulee, Walla Walla and then we have a team in Yakima that also honors veterans," he said. "It's definitely a growing program, and we hope for it to just keep growing."