The Black Hills National Cemetery is holding a ceremony today/Monday to honor veterans who’ve been buried or interred over recent months without full military honors.
Throughout the year, some veterans’ remains arrive at the Black Hills National Cemetery in an unaccompanied status. This means that neither friends nor family are present to attend those veterans’ burials or internments, which take place without a standard military program.
Cemetery director Bill Haggerty says the Black Hills National Cemetery makes up for this on the first Monday of each quarter with an Unaccompanied Veterans Memorial Ceremony.
“It’s a chance to give the veterans who…for one reason or another…were buried without military honors…we give them a group honor ceremony,” says Haggerty. “So that no veteran is ending up being buried without having military honors. We rotate the honor guards from the different ones in the area. And we typically honor between 15 and 20 veterans each quarter this way.”
The public is invited to attend the Unaccompanied Veterans Memorial Ceremony, which starts at 9 a.m.