All veterans deserve a dignified funeral when the time comes. Those who dedicate their lives to serving their country should receive a respectful and honorable farewell.
Unfortunately, not every veteran has family or friends by their side at the time of death. However, this doesn’t mean they have to be buried alone. In an act of profound kindness, a group of high school seniors stepped up to carry the casket of one such veteran.
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Ralph Lambert, a retired US Air Force veteran, passed away in Louisiana on February 8 at the age of 94, according to KALB. Sadly, he had no friends or family to attend his funeral.
Lambert served his country for over two decades, from 1950 to 1971. It seemed heartbreaking to think that a veteran who had given so much would be buried with no one to honor him.
Upon learning about Lambert’s situation, local high school baseball coach Jordan Marks decided to take action. He enlisted six members of his team—seniors from Menard High School—to attend the funeral and carry Lambert’s casket. This selfless act not only honored a veteran but also taught these young men valuable life lessons beyond the baseball field.
“I try to teach them the game of baseball but also the game of life, and anytime we can serve a community member or especially somebody that served for our country, we are more than happy to do it,” Marks told KALB.
On the day of the funeral, six seniors—Ashton Veade, Cameron Kinder, Jacob Giordano, Jackson Ford, Ashton Brodnax, and Hunter Foster—carried Lambert’s flag-draped casket, ensuring the veteran received a proper burial at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery. Although they had never met Lambert, they considered it a deeply meaningful honor.
“It was an honor for us, seniors, to be able to go out there, especially with somebody with no family and friends,” Jacob Giordano told KALB.
“I felt sorry, and I am just glad that we got the opportunity to go out there,” said Cameron Kinder. “We all have our family and friends, but I think we fail to realize that somebody out there doesn’t have that.”
Sadly, stories like this are not uncommon. Some veterans die alone and are denied the right to a funeral with military honors. Various veterans’ organizations across the United States, such as the Missing in America Project, work tirelessly to identify unclaimed veterans and ensure they receive the dignified send-offs they deserve.
Regardless of the circumstances at the end of life, no veteran should be buried without recognition and honor. The remarkable kindness shown by these six high school seniors ensured that Ralph Lambert’s service and sacrifice were appropriately commemorated.
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Thank you to these seniors for honoring this veteran at his funeral. We trust that he would have been very pleased to know that someone cared about him in his final moments.
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