Homeless Veteran to Receive Military Funeral

More than 150,000 homeless veterans in the U.S., many whose remains are unclaimed at their death, risk burial in paupers’ graves, according to the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program.

Through the Burial Program, one Georgia veteran won’t be among them.

Wendell Doughty (1962-2012) of College Park served in the U.S. Army as a medical specialist for three years. Doughty will receive services conducted with military honors at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton.

Doughty, 50, is a veteran with no home, no money and no legal next-of-kin to make his funeral arrangements. That’s when H.M Patterson & Son-Canton Hill Chapel, of Marietta, stepped in to see to it that Doughty receives a burial befitting a veteran of our nation’s armed services.

“The Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program is a cooperative effort designed to ensure that veterans who are homeless, indigent and have no family receive the honors in death that their service in life merited,” said Greg Free, chairperson of the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program in the Atlanta area. “We’re honored to be able to give Mr. Doughty the dignified military service he deserves.”

Doughty will receive a graveside service Tuesday, April 10 at 11:30 a.m., complete with military funeral honors including the folding and presentation of the American flag and the playing of Taps.

The Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program is a cooperative effort among Dignity Memorial funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Georgia National Cemetery, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vitas Hospice, Georgia National Guard, Gold Star Mothers of America, Patriot Guard Riders of Georgia and local medical examiners, coroners, veterans advocates and veterans organizations.

Through the program, Dignity Memorial funeral and cemetery providers provide preparation of the body, transportation, clothing and coordination of the funeral service. Georgia National Cemetery will provide the opening and closing of the gravesite, a grave liner, a headstone or marker and the graveside ceremony.

Founded in St. Louis in 2000, the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program now operates in 35 cities and has conducted more than 1,000 services for homeless veterans across the United States since its inception.