A well-deserved final send off.

As those who served our country get older, they often outlive their friends – and their own family. But no veteran who put their life on the line for our country should have to go to their final resting place without being celebrated for a life well lived in service to our country.

Unfortunately, one veteran faced that prospect after passing away recently…until the Nashville community stepped up to give him a proper tribute.

Yesterday afternoon, local Nashville news station WZTV shared the story of Lonnie D. Wayman, a U.S. Navy veteran being laid to rest after passing away with no known family members.

Wayman was being laid to rest this morning at the Middle Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery, and organizers put out the call inviting community members to attend the service to not only honor Wayman’s military service but to ensure that he wasn’t alone as he was laid to rest.

The call to action caught the attention of many in the Nashville community, including country singer John Rich, who shared the post to his social media:

And this morning, the community stepped up in a big way to honor one of our nation’s finest.

Hundreds showed up to the cemetery today to honor Wayman, including veterans groups, bikers, and others who just wanted to be there to pay tribute to the veteran.

Video from the service showed traffic wrapping around the cemetery:

And by the time the ceremony started, it was standing room only inside the chapel:

Even as the service concluded and Wayman’s casket was prepared for burial with full military honors, it appears that folks were still pouring in to pay their respects:

I wasn’t able to find much information about Wayman unfortunately, but it appears that he was around 73 years old at the time of his death. That means that, assuming he enlisted at the age of 18, Wayman likely served in the end of the Vietnam war, which ended in 1975 when he would have been around 23 years old.

Data from the Department of Veterans Affairs shows that approximately 2,300 unclaimed veterans are buried every year, an average of around 6-7 per day, which is absolutely heartbreaking to think about. But as the director of the Middle Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery, Robert Million, said during Wayman’s service, it’s their mission to provide all veterans with “the honor and dignity that they have earned.”

“Every day I enter the gates and I see the marble stones and I see them as individual badges of honor that were earned through that courage of service and the sacrifices made by the veterans and their loved ones.”

While there’s not much known about Wayman’s life, or what he went through during and after his military service, it’s heartwarming to see our community still able to come together to honor those who gave up so much for our country. But we need to make sure we’re showing up for our veterans while they’re still around and not just after they pass away.

Rest in peace, Lonnie D. Wayman, and thank you for your service.