CT Ceremony For Vets' Unclaimed Cremains Has Southington Ties

SOUTHINGTON, CT — The Connecticut State Department of Veterans Affairs and the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association, Inc. are conducting a military funeral ceremony for eight U.S. veterans' unclaimed cremated remains Friday and three of them have Southington connections.

The veterans are from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The Public is invited to attend the ceremony, slated for 10:30 a.m. at the State Veterans Cemetery, 317 Bow Lane, in Middletown.

DVA Commissioner Thomas Saadi will lead the ceremony that will be supported by the funeral directors from across the state. Among those in attendance will be local, State, and federal Officials and members of veterans organizations.

Commissioner Saadi, CFDA President David W. MacDonald, and other dignitaries will deliver remarks during the ceremony that will include the posthumous presentation of Connecticut Wartime Service Medals. Masks are strongly encouraged even though the event is outdoors.

At 9:40 a.m. Friday, police and Connecticut Patriot Guard Riders will escort four CFDA hearses containing the cremains of eight veterans from DVA Rocky Hill Campus to the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown.

Friday marks the seventh ceremony hosted by the DVA in coordination with the CFDA since 2009, when Connecticut established new protocols to identify unclaimed cremated remains of honorably discharged U.S. veterans in the state's funeral homes with the goal of providing them a dignified burial with full military honors. The remains can go unclaimed for a variety of reasons like lake of kin, CFDA officials said.

The veterans to be honored are:

• Victor Herbert Anderson, U.S. Marines/Korean War, Aug. 4, 1933-Nov. 1, 2018, died in Seymour
• Orville K. Davis, U.S. Army/World War II, May 10, 1923-Nov. 5, 1993, died in Southington
• Stephen Yoder Forrester, U.S. Army/Vietnam War, Feb. 7, 1946-Nov. 29, 1972, died in Branford
• Joseph P. Galipeau, U.S. Army/World War II, March 23,1929-Oct. 29, 2001, died in Southington
• Lawrence W. Jordan, U.S. Army/World War I, Oct. 10, 1898-Aug. 5, 1976, died in Branford
• Bernard Joseph Lafleur, U.S. Navy/World War II, Nov. 30, 1925-March 17, 2007, died in Southington
• George Dalton Parker, U.S. Navy/World War II, October 30, 1916-September 10, 1984, died in Hartford
• Lawrence Earl Tefft, U.S. Navy/World War II, July 14, 1927-Feb. 9, 1998, died in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.