American Military News by Eric Adler - The Kansas City Star April 09, 2020
No military bugler sounded “Taps†for Raymond Boler, a soldier for nearly 40 years.
No honor guard stood among the white marble headstones of Leavenworth National Cemetery on Monday to fire the three-volley salute he had hoped would see him to his final rest.
It was not a uniformed soldier who presented his widow, his partner for 57 years, with the American flag, folded in a triangle, from a grateful nation.
“One of the guys at the office, a VA person at the cemetery office, he presented me with the flag, and that was it,†Francina Boler said on the afternoon after her husband, 72, was buried. “I’m really upset, but what can I do? The whole world’s got things going on. … We didn’t have a choice.â€
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration, which runs 142 cemeteries across the county, felt it had little choice, either, in the face of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/04/covid-19-casualty-no-taps-or-honor-guard-for-missouri-veteran-at-cemetery/
