In Focus: A dignified farewell for veterans: Lewis County coroner leads interment effort for unclaimed remains

An interment ceremony was held at Tahoma National Cemetery for the unclaimed remains of veterans who died in Lewis County on Friday, Feb. 27.

A procession departed the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis on Friday morning on a
mission to honor veterans whose remains were unclaimed after being held by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office. 

The unclaimed remains of five veterans — and one veteran’s spouse — were interred during a ceremony on Friday at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent. Each veteran received full military honors.

The names of the veterans are as follows: Shelva Jennings, U.S. Army; Michael Braroe, U.S. Army; Troyce Stirkins, U.S. Army; Roger Thompson, U.S. Navy; and Thor Silva, U.S. Army. Helen Jennings, Shelva Jennings’s spouse, was interred with Shelva but did not have a military ceremony. 

“We will also be returning a memorial brick for James Kalista (U.S. Marine Corps),” the coroner’s office stated prior to the event. “This brick was turned in to us after being found in a storage unit.”