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Vietnam Vet Anthony Meizis being laid to rest with American Legion Riders escort.
Episode 2588 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about how the Massachusetts American Legion Riders escorted a Vietnam Veteran to his final resting place. The featured story appeared on the American Legion website and was titled: Vietnam veteran gets proper final send-off, thanks to Massachusetts Legion Riders and others.
Vietnam Veteran Anthony Meizis of Weymouth, Massachusetts served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He came home and lived his life in Massachusetts. His life ended at the age of 80 and he left no family members to attend his burial ceremonies except for one who could not attend the event due to ill health.
The funeral home director, Cara Johnson, who was in charge of Anthony’s arrrangements reached out to the Massachusetts Department of the American Legion Riders.
The message to the Riders read as follows:
I have a Vietnam era veteran that will be buried Friday morning at MA National cemetery in Bourne and he has no family or next of kin that will be attending. I had heard of your organization, making sure that no veteran was buried alone, and I would be forever grateful if you would assist me in escorting him to Bourne for his burial and military honors especially since he loved motorcycles.
When Drew Pajak, the Department of Massachusetts Vice Commander, who also serves as the Northeast Region consultant for the National American Legion Riders Advisory Committee he took immediate action.
His first step was to share the funeral directors message on Facebook. With that things took off. There were more than 21,000 impressions and 2,300 shares. Pajak was in shock.
Getting the word out like Pajak did resulted in more than 150 American Legion Riders from multiple chapters and a total of around 300 motorcycles showing up to provide Meizis with a final send-off. Members of American Legion Riders Chapter 279 in Auburn, Mass., were the first to arrive at the funeral home that morning and served as pallbearers for the service.
Listen to episode 2588 and discover more about how the Massachusetts American Legion Riders escorted a Vietnam Veteran to his final resting place.
