MARION, Ind. — About 100 people have attended the funeral of a Vietnam War veteran from Indianapolis whose body went unclaimed for months after his suicide.
The funeral was held Tuesday at Marion National Cemetery for 62-year-old Kenneth E. Taylor Jr. Veterans and a motorcycle group participated in the memorial, which included a 21-gun salute and a bugler playing "Taps."
The Indianapolis Star says Taylor's three siblings and other relatives were estranged from him and declined to assume responsibility for his remains.
In another story, the Star writes about who some of those 100 strangers were who came out to mourn "a lost soul" -- two dozen Patriot Guard motorcyclists, a VFW honor guard and five Daughers of the American Revolution, among others.
There are some things we don't know, such as how much his Vietnam experience contributed to his mental illness and how much his mental illness contributed to the estrangement from his family, but even without judging anybody we can still wish more people had been watching out for him. It's nice so many people showed up to honor what Taylor symbolized, but the living man could have used a little of that attention.
Rest in peace.
