Homeless veterans given some respect at the end

Jace Radke

Monday, June 28, 2004 | 11 a.m.

Refusing to leave a fallen comrade behind first worked its way into Dave Anson's mentality when he became an Army Ranger and served in Vietnam.

Now Anson, 54, finds himself once again following the Ranger motto by refusing to leave behind homeless veterans who are not receiving military services when they die.

"I don't care that a veteran is homeless because that person was a veteran first and deserves the respect and ceremony owed them for their service to the country," said Anson, a member of the Las Vegas chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "No one should have to go home alone."

Since the first of the year, Anson and Pastor Garry Steinman have been out to the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery in Boulder City eight times to provide services for homeless veterans, who would have otherwise been buried alone by cemetery workers.

"The cemetery folks out there do a great job, but these people deserve the respect of a service," Anson said. "It seems like when a homeless person dies they are just a lump of dirt that gets dumped in a hole."

Anson and Steinman said they were shocked to learn earlier this year that if no family members can be located homeless veterans are sent to the cemetery and buried without the ceremonial flag folding and a bugler playing taps.

"We had a homeless friend named Brook who was a Vietnam veteran and when he passed away in December we learned that he was just going to be buried out in Boulder City," Anson said. "I was livid. It was the last insult."

Anson and Steinman held an impromptu ceremony for their friend, and have since developed a relationship with Clark County Social Services so that when a homeless veteran dies Anson is notified.

Veterans make up about 23 percent of the nation's homeless population, said Linda Lera Randle-El, a leading local homeless advocate and director of a nonprofit organization called Straight from the Streets.

Randle-El said that 50 homeless people died in the Las Vegas area last year and that 20 have passed away so far this year. She estimates that there are as many as 7,000 homeless people in the Las Vegas area, though she doesn't know how many are veterans.

A recently completed census counted about 7,800 homeless people living in metropolitan Las Vegas.

"We know that there is a large population of veterans in the homeless community, but it's hard to say how many because not all the homeless veterans out there readily pull out their Veterans Administration card and identify themselves," Randle-El said. "You see some of the homeless veterans out there and they are just so beat down and you can't help but think about how badly they've been treated."

Veterans Cemetery Superintendent Jack Porrino said that he would like to see all veterans receive services when they are buried, but sometimes it doesn't happen. Veterans are promised cemetery plots and headstones, but often ceremonies and services are not provided unless there is a family member who requests it, Porrino said.

"I'd like to see all veterans get services, but it's not something that is required," Porrino said. "If there is not a family member sometimes the military doesn't want to come out because there is no one to give a flag to."

Porrino said he is setting up a subcommittee of the Veterans Cemetery Committee to try to organize local veterans' groups to ensure that homeless veterans and those with no family receive the honor they are due. Color guards, 21-gun salutes, flag ceremonies and buglers can all be provided through local veterans organizations, Porrino said.

"What does it really take to give these people the respect they deserve?" Steinman asked. "All it takes is for people to do it and bring glory to God."

Steinman and Anson say they want to bring other veterans organizations in to help ensure that services are provided for these faceless veterans, and plan to bring the issue up at July's meeting of the commanders of the local veteran groups.

Last week the Woman Veterans of Nevada helped Anson and Steinman provide services for a homeless woman known as "Norma" who served in the Army during World War II between 1945 and 1948.

The Woman Veterans of Nevada provided a bugler and conducted the flag folding ceremony and saluted with Anson and Steinman as the woman's remains were placed in her plot.

The Vietnam Veterans of America are paying for the shipping costs to send the folded flag from the woman's ceremony to her brother in California who is homebound.

"All of these men and women signed on the same dotted line and took the same chances, and they deserve this little piece of respect," Anson said. "I hope that some of the other organizations step up to help us, but if it doesn't happen I'll still be out here taking care of them.

"I'd want someone to do it for me."