Error Corrected

I posted about the strange case of Willie Hayes, a decorated veteran who was buried with full military honors at Calverton National Cemetery. The odd part is that Willie Hayes had already been buried in Calverton in 2003. Or rather A Willie Hayes had been buried there in 2003. The family of the real Willie Hayes was understandably upset that someone had been buried using the real man's honorable discharge. After an investigation, authorities announced that the first man buried was one William Hayes who had served in the Marine Corps from 1965 to 1969. However, William Hayes did not receive an honorable discharge and is not eligible for burial in a National Cemetery. William Hayes remains were slated to be moved to a Potters Field.

Enter Isaiah Owens, the funeral director who had handled the burial of Willie Hayes. He is paying for a burial for William Hayes in a civilian cemetery. He is doing so out of his own pocket as an act of simple human decency.

The director, Isaiah Owens, said Monday he'll pick up the reburial costs for a man who will be exhumed from a national cemetery nearly four years after he was mistakenly interred there in a bureaucratic blunder. Until Owens stepped up and volunteered to pay the $3,000 to $4,000 in funeral expenses, the man faced the prospect of being reburied in Potter's Field, a pauper's graveyard in New York City.

"Whoever he is, he can't do anything for himself any more," Owens said. "I'd rather this for him than having him go to Potter's Field."

The mix-up apparently is the first time "somebody was buried who we thought was somebody else" in any of the national cemeteries, which date to the Civil War era, said Michael Nacincik, a spokesman for the National Cemetery Administration.

The error was discovered in late September when the family of Willie Hayes sought to have the Army veteran buried at Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island, only to find that a William Hayes had been buried there in 2003. Cemetery officials initially balked at the new request, but after being presented with overwhelming evidence that Hayes was a legitimate war veteran, the burial proceeded.

Officials then launched an investigation and announced last week that the mix-up was apparently the result of a clerical error……

……Owens also handled the burial of Willie Hayes last month. And he's been to Potter's Field.

"It's a no man's land where everyone is buried in simple pine boxes," Owens said. "I always get a real sad feeling when I leave that place."

Kudos, Mr. Owens. William Hayes did not belong in Calverton, but at least he'll have a proper burial thanks to you.