A JAHVH chaplain says a prayer as Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association members prepare to escort a deceased Veteran to Florida National Cemetery.
It was a chance meeting between a James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital employee and a funeral director that led to a program that now honors deceased Veterans who have no one else to honor them as they transition to their final resting place.
That program – Final Salute: The Last Mile – is now being considered for implementation at VA hospitals across the country. It provides a motorcycle escort to the Florida National Cemetery for Veterans who pass away at James A. Haley and Bay Pines VA Medical Center who have no family to claim their remains.
David Allen, a Haley biomedical information systems specialist and member of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, was looking for a little fresh air when he stepped out onto the hospital loading dock earlier this year. When he saw a hearse parked there with a flag-draped coffin clearly visible inside, his curiosity got the better of him.
“I was thinking this has got to be somebody important, so instead of going where I was going to go, I climbed down and went to talk to who I thought was the driver,” who turned out to be the owner of Veterans Funeral Care, Allen said. “We got to talking and he said no, this is an unclaimed Vet, and that struck a chord with me. He explained that the Veteran had passed away and either had no family who would claim him or no family to claim him.”
Allen found out that Veterans pass away without family to claim them several times a year at both Haley and Bay Pines, which is across Tampa Bay from Haley. When that happens, Veterans Funeral Care is contracted by the hospital to transport the Veteran’s remains to Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Fla., more than 45 miles away, for a direct internment with no military honors rendered. Those honors normally have to be requested by the family.
This struck a chord with Allen, an Army and Desert Shield-Desert Storm Veteran. He’d been riding with the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association for several years and felt they could do something to honor these Veterans.
He spoke with the association’s executive board, the funeral home officials and leadership at both hospitals. Everyone involved expressed their excitement and appreciation for a program that would ensure no Veteran would be alone for their final journey.
“We were fortunate enough to be able to sit down with both directors, and they absolutely loved the idea,” Allen said. “It was, why didn’t we know this was happening? It really boils down to, nobody knew.”
Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association members escort the hearse carry a deceased Veteran as it leaves JAHVH for Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.
Official policies are now in place at both Haley and Bay Pines recognizing Final Salute: The Last Mile as an official partnership between the hospitals and the CVMA. The first escort at Haley took place in February 2019, and there have been eight more escort mission at Haley and four at Bay Pines since then.
Now, whenever a Veteran passes away at the hospital with no family to claim the remains, either Allen or the Veteran Experience officer is notified. Allen starts the coordination process with his fellow CVMA members, decedent affairs and the funeral home. The funeral home now requests military honors for each Veteran as well.
On the day of the funeral, anywhere from 12 to 18 CVMA members stage at the hospital with their motorcycles to escort the hearse carrying the Veteran to the cemetery. A hospital chaplain provides a prayer before the mission and Taps is played in honor of the Veteran. After a nearly one-hour trip with the motorcycle escort in front of and behind the hearse, the members act as pall bearers for the Veteran and participate in the funeral service.
To help with participation in these missions, hospital employees who are also CVMA members are given authorized absence to participate in the escorts. The program has been such a success that Allen recently received a challenge coin from Dr. Ricard A. Stone, Veterans Health Administration executive in charge, as thanks for creating the program.
While both Haley and Bay Pines have signed on wholeheartedly for The Final Salute: The Last Mile, Allen said he is now working with officials at the Miami VA Medical Center who are interested in implementing a similar program. There has been talk of possibly rolling it out nationally as well.
“I would love to hear that there would never be a Veteran who passed away at a VA where they did not get an escort, that didn’t have somebody to go and take them and be with them in that final moment,” Allen said. “Even if there’s not a CVMA, there’s a VFW Riders or American Legion Riders. There’s got to be a group.”
The mission doesn’t end at the cemetery for the CVMA, either. The organization adds the name of each Veteran escorted to their rolls and toasts them at each membership meeting.
For Allen, the emotions involved in escorting these Veterans is worth the effort.
“There’s a sense of pride from saying, hey, we stepped up and claimed this guy, we claimed him as a brother,” Allen said. “We did the right thing so that he didn’t go alone.”
–VA News
–from Rogue
Senior Editor
Bikernet.com
