A final ceremony, but not the last

Military burial for Natick veteran serves as start for Missing in America effort

Hopkinton resident Don MacNeill and Sharon Bouchard oversee the Missing in America Project in Massachusetts. (Dominic Chavez/Globe Staff/file)

The crack of a 21-gun salute broke the silence in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.

Four years after his death, Master Sergeant Adam A. Kippes finally came to rest in the plot of land set aside for veterans like him. Kippes was the first veteran in Massachusetts to be given military burial honors through the efforts of the Missing in America Project.

The program, founded in Oregon last year, searches for the forgotten cremated remains of veterans that have languished on shelves or in the dusty basements of funeral homes, state hospitals, and prisons - in some cases for more than 100 years.

Or, as in the case of Kippes, remains that have been kept by loving relatives who couldn't afford to provide a proper funeral service for them.

"This is something Adam would have wanted," said his sister-in-law, Carol Shedd of Natick, as she cradled the folded American flag presented to her as part of the June 6 ceremony for Kippes. "He was military all the way."

As a chill settled in the air, Shedd, 78, said she was relieved and grateful that Kippes would be given his place of honor, earned during a 28-year Army career during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Kippes was 89 years old and a resident of the Alzheimer's unit of a Natick nursing home when he died in 2004. But before that, Shedd said, he lived and breathed the Army, even after he retired.

Her sister Justine, Kippes's wife, had previously died, and their children were out of touch with him, Shedd said, so she took on the responsibility of finding a resting place for her brother-in-law.

But with no money for a burial service, she held on to the small blue box of ashes. It was four years later, just last month, that Shedd learned about Missing in America and contacted state coordinator Don MacNeill, a Hopkinton resident who served in the Gulf War as a Marine.

It's a no-questions-asked situation, said MacNeill and his assistant, Sharon Bouchard of Leominster, who stress that the government pays all costs for a proper military burial.

"The worst thing is for anyone to think that they will be forgotten," said Bouchard, who has two sons in the Marines and is president of the state's Blue Star Mothers group. She is working with a Worcester funeral director to identify 80 unmarked remains that could be veterans or their family members, who would also qualify for burials under the program. Similar efforts are planned in Brookline and Ashland.

"Some are actually not labeled at all and I will be sending in bone fragments for DNA analysis in hopes of identifying these poor souls," she said.

Shedd arrived at the cemetery in Bourne with MacNeill, Bouchard, mission coordinator Steve Glowacki, and Larry Herson, who is president of Framingham's Veterans Council. They met 10 members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcyclists who attend such funerals out of respect.

Ride captain Mitch Plonka of Lakeville and others lined the path to a peaceful, open-air pavilion, surrounded by lush green plantings and pink azaleas, at the Massachusetts National Cemetery. They stood somberly at attention, holding tall American flags.

"I remember the soldiers coming back from Vietnam and how they were treated," Plonka said. "So, we're dedicated to being here for veterans."

An Army color guard led the procession into an adjacent room, where the Rev. Gilbert Silverio thanked God for Kippes's life. "We are here to bid farewell to our brother, Adam, who served his country faithfully," said Silverio, a Franciscan friar.

"He is being rewarded for that faithful service by being buried in this beautiful cemetery. It is a well-deserved reward," he told the gathering.

The blast of the rifles reverberated over the verdant hills of the 700-plus-acre burial ground on Cape Cod, followed by the mournful strains of taps, as many fought tears.

Army Specialist Craig Harrison, the commander of the cemetery's color guard, said his 20-person unit participates in 45 ceremonies a week. Sometimes there is a funeral scheduled every 30 minutes, confirmed Steve Pezzella, one of two directors of the federal cemetery.

"We try to allot a half-hour," Pezzella said, as lines of hearses leading cars of grieving relatives were filling three lanes at the facility's entrance. That translates to up to 20 funerals on some days, he said.

At the pavilion where Kippes's memorial was held, Shedd said that she and her sister were in the Air Force in England when they met Kippes in 1951. He had made captain but was relegated to master sergeant in a reduction of forces that sent older officers back to noncommissioned positions, she said.

He and Justine married and had three children, raising them all over the world in the course of his military career.

"To me, he was always a wonderful brother-in-law," Shedd said. "He was very generous. Very well-meaning. And a good man."

So she was touched by the group of strangers there to honor a man they'd never known.

"I just can't thank you enough for being here," Shedd said, as she clasped the hands of people crowding in with kind words. "This is just what he would have wanted. I hope he is looking down."

"Of course he is," said one man, giving her a hug.

A patch on the back of his leather jacket read: "The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten."

MacNeill, who was part of the squad that fired the last salute to Kippes, was quiet as he packed away the rifles.

Then, as he prepared to go to the crypt where Kippes's ashes were to be sealed, MacNeill said, "I feel good. It's a start."

To contact the state's Missing in America Project chapter, e-mail Don MacNeill at don7354@verizon.net or call Sharon Bouchard at 978-549-5032.

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net.