LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Seven servicemen were laid to rest at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery during a Thursday morning group ceremony, years after their deaths and with no family in attendance.
The veterans — three Army, two Marines, one Navy and one Air Force — were among more than 120 unclaimed veterans buried at the cemetery this year. The burials happen on a near-weekly basis, with a maximum of seven per week.
Robert Donald Wilkinson, a specialist who served in the Army during Vietnam, passed on Sept. 16, 2022. Daniel Jerome Longworth, also a specialist who served in Vietnam, passed on Oct. 14, 2020. Fellow veterans did not know them in life, but do share their journey.
“Those who served in Vietnam shared with all other war veterans an awful knowledge and understanding of the true cost of war… Fighting a terror which has no equal,” said Bobi Oates, a retired Senior Master Sergeant with the Air Force and part of the Honors Team with Women Veterans of Nevada.
The unclaimed veterans include those who have no family, are homeless, or whose families have passed away.
“There’s one vet that really sticks in my mind. I’ve been doing this for about 14 years now,” said Oates. “Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who served in World War 2, Korea, and Vietnam, and we were his only family.”
Some unclaimed veterans wait for years to be buried because of the volume. According to census data, more than 8 percent of Nevadans are veterans.
“A lot of people do come to Nevada to retire… there’s no other family or the families don’t want to come out,” Oates said. “Some of the ones that we’ve done the last couple of weeks, there were nice urns for those people that somebody really cared about them, but not enough to make sure they were buried.”
Oates shared that supporting local veterans groups like the Klein Foundation, which works to keep veterans in Las Vegas off the streets, can help prevent veterans from ending up alone.
The unclaimed veteran burials are open to the public and usually held every Thursday at 8:40 a.m. at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.
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