Augusta, Maine.– Gerry Brooks, former US Marine, died alone in a Maine nursing home, abandoned and practically forgotten. So the funeral home posted an ad asking if anyone wanted to be a pallbearer or simply attend his burial.
Within minutes, the funeral home began turning away volunteers to carry the pall.
A bagpiper offered to play at the funeral. A pilot offered to conduct a flyby. Military groups from across the state pledged to give him a proper farewell.
Hundreds of people who knew nothing of the 86-year-old veteran beyond his name showed up on a sweltering afternoon and gave Brooks a final salute with full military honors 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 next to the casket as a crane hoisted a huge flag over the cemetery entrance.
Some waved as they passed. Others sang the Marine Hymn.
“We are honored to be able to do this,” said Jim Roberts, commander of the Belfast VFW post. “There is so much negativity in the world. This is something that people can feel good about and unite with. It’s absolutely wonderful.” He said Brooks’ son, granddaughter and son-in-law came to the funeral but did not speak during the service.
Roberts said the VFW is called a couple of times a year about a deceased veteran with no family or one who is unwilling to handle funeral arrangements. But “we will always be there.” Like other veterans who helped Thursday, he didn’t know Brooks.
So many groups volunteered to participate in the memorial that there wasn’t enough room to fit them into the 20-minute funeral service, said Katie Riposta, the funeral director who issued the call for help last week.
“Renew your faith in humanity,” he said.
More than 8 million living U.S. veterans are age 65 or older, nearly half of the veteran population. The vast majority are men. This is indicated in a report from the United States Census Bureau last year. As this generation dies, he said, its collective memory of wartime experiences “will go down in history.”
Much of Brooks’ life is unknown.
He was a widower and lived in Augusta. He died on May 18, less than a week after entering a nursing home, Riposta said. The cause of death was not disclosed.
The funeral home and authorities contacted his next of kin, but no one wanted to take care of his body, he said.
“It seems like she was a good person, but I don’t know anything about her life,” Riposta said, noting that after Brooks’ death, a woman contacted the funeral home to say that she had once taken her in when she had no other place to go, without further details.
“It doesn’t matter if you served one day or made the military your career,” he said. “He still deserves to be respected and not be alone.”
This Thursday’s crowd wasn’t all strangers, and it turned out that Brooks hadn’t been either.
Victoria Abbott, executive director of the Bread of Life shelter in Augusta, said Brooks came to the soup kitchen every day, always ready to tell “dad jokes” and make the staff smile. He had a favorite table.
“A quintessential 80-year-old, Dad jokes every day,” Abbott said. “It was great to have him around. He was part of the soup kitchen family.”
But most of the people present this Thursday learned of him too late. The memorial book published online by Direct Cremation of Maine, which helped arrange the burial, had some well wishes from strangers.
“Lord,” one began, and ended with “Semper Fi.”
The other two, a couple, thanked Brooks for his service. “We all deserve love, kindness and respect when called home. I hope you lived a beautiful life full of love, kindness, dreams and hope,” they wrote.
And they added: “Thank you to all who will make this gentleman’s service a fitting and well-deserved farewell.”
Linda Laweryson, who served in the Marines, said this was the second funeral in just over a year she had attended for a veteran who died alone. Everyone deserves to die with dignity and be buried with dignity, she said.
Laweryson read a poem during the funeral service written by a combat Marine that reflects on the place where Marines graduate from boot camp.
“I walked through the old parade ground, but I was not alone,” the poem says. “I walked through the old parade ground and knew I was home.”
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