“You are not forgotten” — Fort Jackson National Cemetery holds Unclaimed Veterans service

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — “You are not forgotten” is the message at the funeral service held for five Unclaimed Veterans at Fort Jackson National Cemetery.

Of the more than 9,000 soldiers buried there, just over 100 Veterans are considered unclaimed.

Members from across multiple military branches met to honor the five Veterans who served the country in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Arranged by the Chapin American Legion Post 193, the service honored the lives and deaths of MM3 Frank Dort, AA Samuel McClendon, LCPL Robert Beyersdorfer, PVT Hjordis Carter, and PVT Reginald Gibbons.

Air Force Vietnam Veteran Willard Field says to him the service means he has five more brothers that he never got the chance to know.

“Everyone of these regardless of background, regardless of race, creed, color, whatever. We are brothers and sisters. We all have served and we all wrote the same check. Some of them got cashed. Mine has yet to be,” Field says.

And as a Vietnam Veteran Field says the service is important to him because he knows how it feels to be forgotten.

“If you see a Vietnam Vet, the best thing you can say to them, way past ‘Thank you for your service,’ say ‘Welcome home.’ Our motto at the Vietnam Vets of America is never again will a generation be forgotten the way we were,” says Field.

Johnette Jeffcoat is not a Veteran, but she says the service is still very personal.

Jeffcoat says she never met her father who served in WWII and was later killed in the Korean War. Her husband also served in the Air Force.

“It means a lot to us, especially on the Unclaimed. Because everybody deserves to have somebody to stand for them. So we are very, very proud when we get these calls, to stand for someone who has no one,” says Jeffcoat.

Burial at Fort Jackson National Cemetery is available to all members of the Armed Forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and are honorably discharged.