LAUREL — Stories of service and the very people who lived them are still being unearthed decades later, bringing inspiration to new generations and closure to families left waiting for answers.
A Memorial Day ceremony held at Yellowstone National Cemetery Monday honored those who have passed.
"I came here to visit my grandma, who just passed last year," said Ricky Robinson, who attended the ceremony. "She stood behind my grandpa while he was in the service."
“We’re a national cemetery, we’re the same as Arlington and every national cemetery across the United States and it’s a great honor for us to host and become the final resting place for these men and women who are veterans in our community," said Bill Kennedy, Chairman of Friends of Yellowstone National Cemetery.
That includes veterans who have just passed and others who died in war decades ago but are only now being identified.
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, gave the keynote address and shared the story of Franklin Bennett.
"For the better part of a century, Cpl. Bennett laid unaccounted for in a common grave on the other side of the world," Daines said.
Bennett, a 20-year-old Glendive man who served in WWII, survived the historic Bataan Death March and died in a POW camp in 1942.
His remains were only identified this year and were brought back for burial in Glendive.
"Every life matters, every life needs to be remembered and we have one more brave hero from Montana we were able to talk about today who has been brought home and laid to rest in Montana," Daines said.
Showing that some stories of veterans and their service are still out there, waiting to be told.
