Vietnam War veteran Freddie Lee Hillhouse died in anonymity Jan. 3, and his funeral was destined for the same fate until a group of veterans intervened.
Instead, hundreds of people -- including a long-lost niece -- crowded a small pavilion at the State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock on Thursday. As the playing of taps concluded the 71-year-old's service, visitors were still arriving.
Few, if any, knew the El Dorado man, but a plea from the Little Rock Air Force Base retiree activities office for people to attend the funeral went viral on social media. Word even reached members of Hillhouse's family, whom funeral directors had been unable to locate.
Tears slid down Kaitlin Minton's cheeks as she paid her final respects to an uncle she hadn't seen in five years.
Minton, 26, of Manila happened to be in Little Rock when a cousin, who saw the Facebook post about Hillhouse, called her at 4 a.m. Thursday and told her about her estranged uncle's death and funeral.
"I'm overwhelmed," Minton said. Hillhouse disappeared about five years ago, and the family hadn't seen him since.
"A lot took a toll on him. I think he just needed to get away for a while," said Minton, who has fond memories of her uncle from when she was young.
Hillhouse was indigent, which doesn't mean he was homeless, but it does mean he didn't have money to pay for a proper burial. The Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock averages one indigent burial each month, but the funeral attendance is never like it was Thursday, Department of Veteran Affairs spokesman Sarah Jones said.
Many more indigent burials take place each month at the Fort Smith National Cemetery, Jones said. The federal government reimburses some of the cost for such funerals there. Officials at the Fort Smith cemetery could not be reached Thursday afternoon to provide a number on how many such burials are held there each month.
After news about Thursday's funeral gained traction on Facebook, the Patriot Guard Riders got involved. The nationwide motorcycle group formed in 2005 to counter efforts by the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., whose members have protested at the funerals of U.S. veterans. The church says military members are dying because of homosexuality in the United States.
Each year, Patriot Guard Riders attend more than 10,000 funerals, which they call "missions." Many of the funerals are for homeless veterans or veterans who have no families, as funeral directors believed was the case with Hillhouse.
On Thursday, hundreds of motorcycles lined the cemetery's winding road, and dozens of the leather-clad men and women stood on the outskirts of the crowd at Hillhouse's service.
William "Doc" Sheets, 30, of American Legion Post 71 in Cabot began calling fellow veterans when he received an email about the funeral Sunday afternoon. His only goal was to ensure that the man wasn't alone for his funeral.
"Boy, did we start something," said Sheets, a Vietnam veteran. "This has taken me aback.
"We don't know him or his story. We've never met him. It doesn't matter. He was a brother, and he wasn't going to be buried alone."
Maj. Jeremy Miller, a chaplain in the Arkansas Army National Guard, gave a brief eulogy. Part of Miller's job is to travel the state conducting funerals for indigent veterans. In the past six weeks, he buried four homeless veterans. Only he and an honor guard attended three of the four services.
Sometimes he'll take his son to the services just to make sure someone is there to receive the burial flag. Thursday's turnout was rare, "maybe once a year," he said.
Hillhouse served one year and 11 months in combat. Perhaps a painful experience from that service drove him into solitude, Miller speculated.
Surrounded by row after row of small, white gravestones still adorned with Christmas wreaths, Hillhouse's niece expressed mixed emotions.
"I hate this was how we were reunited," she said after a procession of hugs from dozens of strangers. "But I'm glad he didn't go alone."
The crowd was as diverse as it was large. Black, white, young and old grieved beside Minton. Many walked a half-mile, because the cemetery lacked adequate parking for the number of attendees.
Rusty Kinnard, a 26-year-old Army veteran, attended the funeral with a friend. They saw a Facebook post about it, and their military instincts kicked in.
"I'm not going to let a brother be buried by himself if I can help it," Kinnard said. "It's hard to explain. There's a brotherhood built when you take that oath. It means something."
Roy Parker, a 71-year-old funeral director from El Dorado, said he had never attended a funeral like the one Thursday. A crowd of 50 was the largest he'd previously seen for an indigent veteran.
As Miller closed his eulogy, he expressed the sentiment shared by nearly all in attendance. "Veterans deserve nothing less than a crowded funeral," he said.
In chorus, the crowd said: "Amen."
Metro on 01/15/2016