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Family in service: Patriot Guard Riders stand for fallen veteran

Daily Independent - 7/24/2020

Jul. 24--The Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Northeast at EastPark on the Industrial Parkway serves as the final resting place of many veterans, and their families, in the area who have served their country.

The well-kept lawns and the neat rows of white headstones and grave markers are a tranquil, yet stark, reminder of the ultimate cost in numbers of freedom. Both those who served during time of war and those who served in more peaceful times represent how many Americans took up arms and prepared to defend this country.

The reality that this cemetery is not the only one of its kind, but rather a small fraction of what has been dedicated to the memory of America's defenders, is a sobering thought. But it is a solace, at the last, for the families of veterans to see their loved ones honored by a grateful country. Where these veterans went and the lives they led after their service did not change the fact that they did serve, and families are grateful to lay their fathers and sisters, their uncles and mothers, in an honorable rest made possible for them by a grateful nation.

There are those times when a veteran has no surviving family members to see them to their own rest. But when the bonds of kinship have been broken, the American veteran still has the kinship of shared service. Across the country there are groups of veterans who volunteer to see to the needs of their brothers and sisters in arms. One such group, the Patriot Guard Riders, learned that a fellow veteran had no family left to carry him to his final rest, so they and others decided to stand in for the man's family.

"He passed away a few days ago, and he has no living family members," said John McGlone, Senior Ride Captain for Eastern Kentucky. "So, the Patriot Guard and a host of others are honored to step in and be his family."

The Veteran in question was Huntington native Spencer Lee Jeffries, who served in the United States Army beginning in 1964 and serving through 1967 during the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal and Sharpshooter.

McGlone said there is a loose network of Patriot Guard Riders and veterans both locally and across the country.

"Mr. Jeffries was in Circleville, Ohio, when he passed away," McGlone said. "And we heard about it from a veteran there who notified someone in southern Ohio and said Mr. Jeffries had wanted to come back home for his final resting place. So, Shane Barnes put out a call."

Barnes, McGlone said, is the Southern Ohio Ride Captain for Patriot Guard.

"Once Shane put out the word we were doing this, we began to coordinate, and it really became a Tri-State endeavor. It is a widespread network of people interested in helping veterans," McGlone said, referring to both his own group and others. "And everyone does this to honor a family member who has served their country. To me it's about supporting our country and the people who did what they did so the rest of us could live free."

McGlone said he does it to honor his biological father, who served in the Air Force.

Regardless of who each volunteer chooses to honor as a reason for what they do, each member honors all veterans. Mr. Jeffries might have arrived at the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Northeast without a blood relative to guide him to his rest, but a host of "family" bound to him by shared service escorted him to his final home. And that "family" was grateful for the opportunity to give him that honor.

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(c)2020 The Daily Independent (Ashland, Ky.)

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