Dozens of veterans and community members gathered in Higginsville, Missouri Wednesday to honor a veteran who served in the Army during the Vietnam War.
Dennis Gray died on Dec. 6, 2016 from a sudden cardiac arrest in Sedalia, Missouri. Ever since, Pettis County Coroner Robert Smith has been trying to find his family.
"The last three months we just met one dead end after another," he said.
Smith learned Gray was a veteran after finding his discharge papers in his apartment. For three months he tried calling and emailing potential relatives before making a decision to cremate Gray and give him a burial with full honors.
65 years old. A Vietnam vet. Dennis Gray had no known family until this morning... when they showed up to give him full honors @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/ypLo9AnQcC
— Ariel Rothfield KSHB (@arothfield) February 15, 2017
"With him being a veteran and serving his country, I felt like this was the right thing to do," Smith said.
Dozens of people, including the Patriot Guard Riders and the American Legion, showed up Wednesday afternoon to show support and honor Gray. Included in the crowd was Gray's sister, brother and nieces who finally learned about Gray and the service on social media.
"We had been searching for him for 20 years," said Patricia Roberts, Gray's niece. "We wish we would have found him sooner."
The number of people who came to help give Dennis Gray a burial he deserves really takes my breathe away. This is beautiful. @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/bIXR7QgQTS
— Ariel Rothfield KSHB (@arothfield) February 15, 2017
Roberts told 41 Action News Gray joined the army when he was just 18 years old. After Vietnam, she said he suffered severely from PTSD.
"We would not see I'm for five, ten years at a time sometimes. And then one day we would wake up, around the holidays, and he would be standing in the park looking at our house," Roberts said.
Wednesday's service was held at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville.
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Ariel Rothfield can be reached at Ariel.Rothfield@KSHB.com.
