They didn’t know him in life, but it didn’t matter.

In death, hundreds of active and former service members poured out their love for fellow veteran Stephen Reiman, a Californian who died of natural causes in Wyoming after arriving in the state by bus a week prior.

For days after his passing, nary one person stepped forward to claim his body, and the story received nationwide attention when it was thought that the United States Navy vet would have no one to remember him in death. No one to pay their respects, and see him off to the next life.

Finally, someone did. It was his sister, Diane, who told authorities she had lost contact with her brother a few years ago and hadn’t heard from him since.

She was floored by the reception he received in Wyoming.

“The most touching thing to me was when the ICU nurses came and told me that they had been with him when he died. He wasn’t alone, and that he didn’t suffer and so that was so important to me, being a nurse myself. He was remembered even though he was isolated and we had lost touch with him for so long.”

“He was cared for in a very special way by a lot of special people.”

Many of the military members paying tribute to the late Marine brought up that coming forward on behalf of an unknown fellow vet is a vital element in their American brotherhood — their military family. It proves that its bond can’t be broken, no matter what tempests life may bring.

“We may not be blood, but we’ve been through a lot of stuff together,” said USMC Staff Sergeant Cody Wallace, who never met Reiman in life, but was touched by his service and what he meant to the people who showed up to honor him. “And to come beside one another and stand beside their family, each other’s family and know that you’re always to have each other’s back, no matter what happens, no matter what life throws at you, no matter the circumstances, we’re here for each other.”

According to K2 Radio in Wyoming, Reiman will also be “honored in a short military ceremony at the end of the month, by the Natrona County United Veterans Council.”