Anything we can do about this? Wyoming DUers? [View all]

[Hissyspit]

http://trib.com/news/local/casper/vietnam-vet-with-no-known-family-to-be-buried-in/article_97da23eb-9813-5ace-a186-056bc16b22be.html

Vietnam vet no known family to be buried in Casper; coroner hopes people will attend his funeral

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But that’s about all Natrona County Coroner Connie Jacobson knows for certain about Stephen Carl Reiman, a 63-year-old homeless Navy veteran who died Thursday at Wyoming Medical Center. Her office has looked for a friend or a family member to claim Reiman. They haven’t found anyone.

The other thing Jacobson knows is that Reiman needs to be buried with respect. And that he shouldn’t be alone.

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Reiman came to Wyoming from a Southern California community for homeless veterans. He served in the Navy from 1971 to 1975, his last post aboard the U.S.S. Long Beach. Reiman had previously told a VA doctor that he had struggled with PTSD, depression and alcoholism, Jacobson said. Those symptoms worsened when Reiman’s only son died in combat in Iraq, Jacobson said, and Reiman became incapable of working. He depended on the VA for housing, income and health care.

It’s not clear why Reiman traveled the 1,250 miles to Sheridan with just one backpack — full of Bruce Springsteen CDs, a laptop, an iPod, two identification cards, a copy of his birth certificate and his Navy discharge papers. He also had Springsteen’s memoir, “Born to Run,” in his pack, his most recent page marked with the book’s dust cover.

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A funeral with military honors will be held for Reiman at 10 a.m. Nov. 29 at the Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery in Evansville. Every year, the cemetery hosts a handful of funerals for veterans whom nobody claimed as family, the cemetery’s interim director said.

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