Funeral service to honor vets with unclaimed cremains

MIDDLETOWN — The Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs and Connecticut Funeral Directors Association will hold a military funeral ceremony for eight U.S. veterans’ who had unclaimed cremated remains, including veterans of WWI, WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam War.

It will take place Oct. 1, rain or shine, at 10:30 a.m. at the State Veterans Cemetery, 317 Bow Lane in Middletown. Veterans Affairs Commissioner Thomas J. Saadi will lead the ceremony, which will be supported by directors of various funeral homes from across the state, according to a press release.

Also in attendance will be local, state and federal officials as well as members of veterans organizations. CFDA President David W. MacDonald and other dignitaries will deliver remarks during the ceremony, which will include the posthumous presentation of Connecticut Wartime Service Medals, the news release said.

Masks are strongly encouraged even though the event is outdoors.

At 9:40 a.m., state police and Connecticut Patriot Guard Riders will escort four hearses containing the cremains of eight veterans from the DVA Rocky Hill campus.

This is the seventh such observance hosted by the DVA, in coordination with the CFDA, since 2009, when Connecticut established new protocols to identify unclaimed cremated remains of honorably discharged U.S. veterans, according to the release.

The goal of these funeral homes is to provide them a dignified burial with full military honors, the statement said.

Veterans to be recognized

⏩ Victor Herbert Anderson, U.S. Marines; Korean War, Aug. 4, 1933, to Nov. 1, 2018, died in Seymour

⏩ Orville K. Davis, U.S. Army; WWII, May 10, 1923, to Nov. 5, 1993, died in Southington

⏩ Stephen Yoder Forrester, U.S. Army; Vietnam War, Feb. 7, 1946, to Nov. 29, 1972, died in Branford

⏩ Joseph P. Galipeau, U.S. Army; WWII, March 23, 1929, to Oct. 29, 2001, died in Southington

⏩ Lawrence W. Jordan, U.S. Army; WWI, Oct. 10, 1898, to Aug. 5, 1976, died in Branford

⏩ Bernard Joseph Lafleur, U.S. Navy; WWII, Nov. 30, 1925, to March 17, 2007, died in Southington

⏩ George Dalton Parker, U.S. Navy; WWII, Oct. 30, 1916, to Sept. 10, 1984, died in Hartford

⏩ Lawrence Earl Tefft, U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marines; WWII, July 14, 1927, to Feb. 9, 1998, died in Fort Lauderdale