Six high school students from Mississippi never met Jerry Wayne Pino, a United States Navy veteran who fought in Vietnam, when he was alive, but they were there for him when he needed help posthumously.

They served as his pallbearers.

Pino died on December 12, at the age of 70.

This from the Sun Herald:

“He was an unclaimed veteran,” said Cathy Warden, who works at Riemann Family Funeral Homes, which handled Pino’s services. “Eva Boomer, who also works at Riemann’s, is a veteran, too. She asked me, ‘Do you think we could get (Warden’s son) Bryce and some upperclassmen to come out?’ ”

Unfortunately, Bryce already had accepted an invitation out of town, which he nearly canceled to serve as one of Pino’s ballbearers. But he texted some classmates and within minutes, Boomer had six young men to serve as pallbearers.

JT Tripp, Bailey Griffin, Joseph Ebberman, Jake Strong, Kenny McNutt and James Kneiss served as Pino’s pallbearers Tuesday morning.

The former sailor, who was honorably discharged in the 1970s as a petty office third class, was buried at Biloxi National Cemetery.

The military branch provided honor guards at the service.

The flag that was draped on Pino’s coffin was ultimately given to the teens/football players, who plan on proudly displaying it — along with a plaque honoring the vet — in their team’s locker room.

“It doesn’t cost anything to take some time to do something like this,” Warden said. “If our young people can figure this out, our country is going in the right direction.”