‘He’s got family now’: Strangers unite to honor Navy veteran’s unaccompanied burial

Assorted flowers laid on top of the grave, picked from gardens along Tammy Jo Cormier’s trip to the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen.

Cormier drove over an hour from Sanbornville to ensure that John W. Mulligan, a Navy veteran, was not buried alone.

“I just thought, ‘Why not do something besides think about myself for a little while?’” said Cormier, whose father served in the Navy.

Along the way, she pulled over to ask strangers for flowers from their yards, including some oversized irises that caught her eye. She presented the bouquet, then stood graveside with about 100 others in the sweltering heat.

The attendees took time off from work, crossed state lines and put on their finest American flag merchandise to mark the burial of Mulligan, an 82-year-old former Navy fireman who served in Vietnam from 1964 to 1966. Apart from the dates of Mulligan’s birth and death, those in attendance had limited knowledge about his life.

“I don’t know Mr. Mulligan’s story at all, other than he served in the Navy and he was honorably discharged, making him eligible for burial here,” said Shawn Buck, the director of the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery. “We were told ‘no known next of kin.’”

For Jill Hopkins, that was more than enough information to mobilize her to the cemetery.

“He was a veteran, that’s all I need to know. He served our country so that we can do what we do today,” she said.

Although not a veteran herself, Hopkins’s family has ties to the military. Her father served, and pinned over her heart was a photo of her nephew, a veteran who died by suicide at 31 years old after suffering with PTSD. She brings him everywhere with her in some form — even as a tiny toy soldier kept in her pocket. 

“It’s very sad he has no family, but he’s got family now,” she said of Mulligan.

Through the cemetery’s Standing with Fallen Comrades program, community members can sign up to be notified of an unaccompanied burial. Almost 1,000 people have opted in, Buck said.

Facebook douses “kerosene on the fire,” he said. When a subscriber to the program posts an open call about a veteran’s interment, the message spreads even farther.

“Sometimes social media drives me insane, but in cases like this, it’s awesome. It brings great folks like you out here,” he said to the crowd.  

As retired Master Sergeant Lee Hirtle played taps, dozens of veterans at the gathering saluted Mulligan. Two Honor Guard members performed the Navy flagfold ceremony and presented the American flag to Valerie Ellmer, a Navy veteran, in place of Mulligan’s next of kin.

“No one should be buried alone,” Ellmer said.

“Especially a veteran,” Hopkins added.

Ellmer was “honored” to receive the flag, but she hopes to find Mulligan’s family members so that she can pass it on to them. She has experience with genealogy research and intends to see what she can find.

“If there’s somebody out there that cares about him, I’d love to share this with them,” she said, with the folded flag in her arms. “In the meantime, I will safe-keep it.”