Local American Legion Riders part of funeral service for eight veterans
Five of Ellijay’s American Legion Riders were among a convoy of motorcycling Georgia veterans who went on a special, significant ride Sept. 20.
The Post 82 Legion Riders were part of a procession that escorted the previously unclaimed remains of eight American military veterans to their final resting place at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton.
The funeral service was made possible by the Missing in America Project (MIAP), an American Legion nonprofit organization, said Pat Buchanan, chaplain for Ellijay’s American Legion Post 82 and Georgia’s American Legion Riders.
The MIAP’s mission is to provide interment for veterans whose remains weren’t claimed following cremation. The group works with the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a full military funeral, said Buchanan.
“Five of these people were World War II veterans, and three were Vietnam veterans. They’re veterans who passed away and had no known family or friends,” he added.
The type of circumstances that bring the MIAP’s attention are sad, but frequent, Buchanan explained. When cremains (cremated remains) are not claimed, they are left to sit in storage indefinitely.
“When somebody passes away and the funeral home picks up their remains, sometimes family members (will wait to) pay until the insurance (money) gets there, but then they don’t have the ability to pay. The funeral homes can’t get rid of the bodies so, if they’re still unclaimed after a certain amount of days, they have to cremate them,” said Buchanan. “The funeral homes can’t get rid of them for any reason, so they’re stored in various places until somebody comes back for them. Several decades ago, the American Legion found out (about this).”
To date, MIAP members have visited more than 2,500 funeral homes and helped to inter the cremains of 5,625 veterans nationwide, according to the organization’s webpage.
“It’s a long, drawn-out legal process,” Buchanan said. “When they finally do get the cremains out and released, they go to the Department of Veterans Affairs to find appropriate cemeteries to inter them in.” Two of the veterans who were finally laid to rest last week — Sgt. Edward Charles Munie and Cpl. Edith Allen Marsh Munie — were a husband and wife from Athens. Both served their country during World War II.
They passed away a year apart from one another, Edward in 1995 and Edith in 1996. According to a funeral pamphlet provided at the service, the couples’ daughter had also passed away, leaving their ashes unclaimed till just recently.
“He was a World War II Army guy, and his wife was a corporal in the Marines in World War II. Their (ashes) had been in a storage room for 26 and 27 years,” said Buchanan.
A Sept. 19 memorial service was held in Watkinsville for the eight deceased veterans, all of whom were from the Athens area or nearby counties. The next day, local Legion Riders Fred McGill, Art Dodge, Tim Duffey, Gary Johnson and Buchanan joined American Legion and Patriot Guard Riders from the north Georgia and Atlanta areas in the Canton funeral procession, which escorted a hearse to the burial sites.
“They’re put in a columbarium or buried in an area (with) smaller gravesites. You have 30 minutes to do a service, because they do so many there. They did services for all eight of them at once,” Buchanan said. “There weren’t any family or friends there, but about 75 people from the community who’d heard about it showed up. There was a military honor guard with all four branches of service.”
“They (also did) a 21 gun salute. It was very, very touching,” said McGill, chaplain for the Post 82 American Legion Riders.
This wasn’t the first time local American Legion Riders have been involved in this type of service, and it won’t be the last, confirmed Buchanan.
“We do them several times a year,” he said. “The Legion Riders here in Ellijay have attended over 400 veterans funerals in the past five years, (as close as) Pickens County and as far away as Jacksonville, Fla.”
The motorcycle group also raises money for funerals and various charitable outreach for veterans and their families. In 2019, the local Legion post and its riders raised $42,000 for charity, Buchanan said.
When asked what makes him want to keep riding to help others, Buchanan — a former Atlanta cop and Green Beret who served in Vietnam, Panama and the Gulf War — said he finally figured out “it’s better to live in honor than in mourning” of his fellow veterans.
“That’s why (most) of us do it,” he said. “It’s just pure luck that I made it back. It’s got nothing do so with my skills on the battlefield. I’m just proof that God loves a complete fool because far better men than me did not come home. For 30 years, my sleeping pill was a fifth of Scotch. I never missed a day of work and had excellent employee reviews, but I couldn’t sleep without it because my demons were with me.”
McGill, a Vietnam veteran, said helping fellow veterans is something that’s “instilled” in him and the Legion Riders.
“You want to help, and that’s what veterans do — help other veterans. We enjoy it,” he said.
The MIAP attempts to track down people who were close to the deceased veterans even after their funerals, Buchanan noted.
“They get the national certificate signed by the president, and a certificate of honor. The flags that are normally presented to surviving spouses or family are presented to MIAP representatives,” Buchanan said. “They have a dignified building, kind of like a mausoleum, that they put them in. They hold these things and continue trying to locate somebody (who was close to them). Every once in a while, they do find somebody who’s a family member or friend and do a dignified transfer of the flag and certificates.”