BOULDER CITY (KTNV) — More than 640,000 U.S. military veterans die every year, and funerals for those who've served take place every single day across the country.
Southern Nevada chapters of veterans groups come together in a unique way to make sure local vets who've passed away aren't forgotten.
"It means a lot for us to give these men and women a proper send off for a long life that they've lived that included military service to our country," Steve Parnes said.
Parnes was a Navy submariner for 20 years and is now the Assistant State Captain with Patriot Guard Riders of Southern Nevada. The organization provides escorts and flag lines for fallen service members at the request of family members and other services to veterans.
"It's just a little something to let them know that there's gratitude for everything that we're enjoying today," Army vet Neil Johnson said. "Even if you don't know them."
You'd never know it, but most of the vets attending services on a beautiful Thursday morning in Boulder City at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery never knew the men and women who were being honored.
That's the best part, though–they don't have to.
"You feel the fact that there's guys that lay their lives on the line, and there's no one here to give them a proper honor at the end of their lives," Parnes said.
These service members who've passed away are known as "unaccompanied veterans" because they don't have family or friends nearby to plan their funerals.
"We don't know their circumstances behind why they don't have family or close friends who've made funeral arrangements for them," Parnes said.
Local veterans groups like the Southern Nevada Patriot Guard Riders, Vietnam Veterans of America and Women Veterans of Nevada have been honoring these heroes for years.
"Since 2012, there's been around 1,800 unaccompanied veterans we've honored on Thursday mornings," Parnes said.
Each person who attends is there for their own reason.
"It's the least that we can do in return," Johnson, who served in Vietnam, said. "I got in trouble a couple times, wounded, and they came to my rescue because we needed help. Not all of them came back from rescuing me, so I feel like this is my way of giving back to those individuals who came to my aid."
Parnes has got his reasons, too: "If I was in that situation, if I pass away and don't have anyone at all to be there for me, how forgotten you can feel?"
Decades ago, these veterans were called to serve, and now they feel called to serve again.
"We owe it to them for their sacrifice and their service," Parnes said.
"We don't want these vets to go unrecognized," Johnson said. "We want them to know they still have a family looking after them."
That family can include you.
Memorial services for unaccompanied veterans in Boulder City are open to everyone and are usually held on Thursday mornings.
Anyone who wants to stop by can thank these fallen vets for their service to make sure they'll never be forgotten.
To stay in the loop about when unattended services will be held, contact the Southern Nevada Patriot Guard Riders for more details via email at snvpgr@gmail.com, or visit their website by clicking here.
