Doylestown Borough Veteran Remembered At Unattended Ceremony

UPPER MAKEFIELD, PA — World War II veteran Richard Brooks (Army Private First Class), had no known family to say goodbye, but his burial was well attended thanks to a grateful community.

During Thursday afternoon’s monthly Unattended Service at Washington Crossing National Cemetery, a group of people he never met showed up to say thank you to the Doylestown Borough resident for his service to the nation.

Flanking one side of the pavilion were members of the Warriors Watch and the U.S. Marine Corps League who stood at attention throughout the ceremony.

Underneath the pavilion, a U.S. soldier held tightly to a folded American flag as Retired U.S. Navy Chaplain Peter Gregory of Chalfont spoke about taking his 11-year-old grandson to see the war memorials in Washington, D.C.

(photo by Jeff Werner)

“After walking up and down the Vietnam Memorial wall, he noticed all the mementos left there by the loved ones. He turned to me and said, ‘Pop Pop, these people sure are missed.’ Yes, they most certainly are,” Gregory told his grandson. “And when we were about to leave, he asked me another question. ‘Does this wall ever end?’ That my friends is a very interesting question.

"For we who have memory, for we who served, we all know that war ended on a visible time and on a visible date. And that wall has visible dimensions, but for the 58,000 names on that wall they lived here," he said. "They live in our hearts. They live in our soul. So in a sense that wall does not end. It goes on.

"It goes on because we are here to bear witness to that wall, to those names, and to those sacrifices made," Gregory continued. "That wall does not end. We gather here today to welcome another veteran to these hallowed and sacred grounds. The wall does not end. Duty, courage, commitment and valor does not end. We bear witness to that today.”

The flag was then presented to George Delia, a Vietnam veteran who said “it was an honor” to accepted it on behalf of Brooks.

Vietnam Veteran George Delia holds tight to an American flag after accepting it in memory of Pfc. Richard Brooks. (photo by Jeff Werner)

Looking on from the outside of the pavilion and bundled up against an early spring chill, people who had never met or even heard of Brooks until a few days before the ceremony stood in silent reverence.

Brooks, who died in 2015, was among the latest "unclaimed" veterans to be buried at the cemetery after an exhaustive search for relatives by Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck and her staff.

Since taking office, Buck has made it her mission to make sure no veteran is buried alone. But there are those like Brooks where their search comes up short.

“We don’t want to leave anybody behind. Our veterans served our country. We need to take care of them,” said Buck.

A box containing the remains of veteran Richard Brooks was front and center during the ceremony. (Photo by Jeff Werner)