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Somebodys Shipmate - UPDATE


Subdeacon Joe

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I came across this in a vets blog and thought it needed to be passed on here. The more who know about it, the better the chance of someone who knew him finding out.

 

John D. Hannah died once.

 

 

Now he is dying again.

 

The second death is the death of being forgotten. And Hannah, who served his country for years, has been forgotten.

 

His body lies alone in a cooled room in the Gates of Heaven Funeral Home in Detroit, thanks to the grace of its 66-year-old owner, Joseph Norris, who said, "My heart told me I had to do this."

 

Norris is keeping Hannah unburied, in a donated coffin, until someone from his family, some brother, sister, child, uncle, cousin -- even a friend -- comes forward to say they knew him.

 

For two weeks, no one has, despite Hannah's years of service in the Navy, despite an honorable discharge, despite calls and a letter to the U.S. Military Retirement Pay Division. Bureaucracy and privacy concerns (ironic for a man whom no one has claimed) bog down the process.

 

Meanwhile, Hannah's corpse remains unvisited. Surely, there is someone reading this who knew him? A man can't simply die in the state where he was raised, in the city where he lived and have no one to stand by his coffin, can he?

 

Sadly, he can. In the world of homelessness, one can die as quietly as a falling leaf. And if no one steps forward, the dilemma of what to do with the body becomes a burden for anyone who gets involved.

 

Norris is faced with that burden now. He kindly took possession after a homeless shelter called for help. But he can't afford the burial costs, and he can't cremate for fear of relatives who may come forward at a later date.

 

Please, if you knew John Hannah, forget the later date.

 

Come forward now.

 

 

 

Sorry, I had copied the wrong line for the link, corrected now

 

 

UPDATE -

 

This is not a case where Mitch Albom got it right. While the article makes it sound as if his family didn't care it was the other way around. He left us and didn't contact us. We only recently found out he was dead. We have taken the lead and are burying him. While we appreciate all of the kind...

 

For whatever reasons he had dropped off their radar, this kind of thing should not happen to our vets (or anyone for that matter). The demons that must have haunted him to cause him to cut himself off from friends and family must have been powerful.

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Subdeacon Joe,

Sadly this is much more common than most folks know. Many vets are stoic and solitary in their last days. They have borne their burdens without complaint for so long that they often do not want to share their end. Families drift apart and away. Divorces and deaths loosen the ties that many felt were so strong. All we can do at times is sit and hold the hand of someone who gave all in their past so that we could be here today and tell them that someone still cares for them as they drift away with no family at their side. I try to be their friend to the last. I know. I work in a hospice unit at a VA hospital, and I am a vet.

 

Mingo :FlagAm:

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One of the silent tragedies. And I'm sure it isn't a new problem, the difference is that until recently with a mostly agrarian society they could disappear into the boonies. Now they mostly stick to the cities.

 

Bless you for your continuing service, Mingo.

 

 

Subdeacon Joe,

Sadly this is much more common than most folks know. Many vets are stoic and solitary in their last days. They have borne their burdens without complaint for so long that they often do not want to share their end. Families drift apart and away. Divorces and deaths loosen the ties that many felt were so strong. All we can do at times is sit and hold the hand of someone who gave all in their past so that we could be here today and tell them that someone still cares for them as they drift away with no family at their side. I try to be their friend to the last. I know. I work in a hospice unit at a VA hospital, and I am a vet.

 

Mingo :FlagAm:

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