A veteran with no surviving family had a full military funeral Thursday that was attended by hundreds of strangers.

Don Kaas passed away on July 29 at the age of 66, but no family claimed his remains. Rather than allow a veteran to fade into obscurity, Zach and Shane Young of Ramsey Young Funeral Home decided to give Kaas a funeral at Camp Nelson National Cemetery.

“He was a veteran in the Navy in Vietnam,” Zach said to local reporters. “We don’t have any information on rank or anything like that. He was 66 years old and his name was Don Kaas and honestly, that’s all we needed to know.”

They posted a plea online for any military community members to pay their respects. Their small, improvised service for a forgotten Navy veteran ballooned into a full blown community event as hundreds of veterans, active duty troops and civilians arrived at the burial.

“Thousands of veterans go more or less unclaimed with very little service or recognition,” Shane said. “My initial hope was that 10 people around here locally would see it and maybe take the time to come and attend the service tomorrow. It’s just snowballed from there.”

 

All in all, the funeral was a heartfelt tribute to a man whose legacy will not be readily forgotten.