JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
According to the group gathered Friday morning at Lakewood Cemetery in Jackson, it's never too late to do the right thing.
"He was just a quiet man, almost humble," says Barbara Hoeppner, niece of Charles Clinton Ewing.
Ewing entered the military at a very young age. He served in the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the Army during his 30 year career.
"He joined the Navy, he was injured on a ship, got a plate in his head," says Hoeppner. "He was shot in the knee, had a knee replacement, he was bayonetted, his medals are so numerous."
The Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient passed away in 1991. But when his wife, Josephine Ewing of Jackson, died last year, a dear friend of hers discovered that Charles had never been laid to rest as he should have been.
"When we came to inter her ashes, there was no marker. It broke my heart," says family friend Mary Wilson.
Ewing was buried in the cemetery, but there was nothing at all to mark where he was buried up until this week, when a marker was put in.
"The V.A. had sent a plaque, bronze plaque, and it hadn't been mounted yet. It's been years," says Robert Catlett of the VFW #3685 in Clinton, who helped to arrange the funeral.
A direct family member had to be notified. That's where Hoeppner stepped in. 21 years later, Ewing received a funeral with military honors.
"It's not too late. We gave him a good sendoff today," Catlett says.
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