Nine U.S. armed forces veterans were honored Saturday ahead of a burial at sea Monday at the nation’s only Veterans Memorial Reef off the coast of southeastern North Carolina.
The Fallen Heroes Ceremony was held at the Fort Johnston–Southport Museum and Visitors Center as part of a weekend of events leading up to Monday’s burial at sea, and WECT in Wilmington was in attendance.
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Each veteran is honored with full military recognition. The remains are placed into markers that are lowered about five miles offshore, creating an underwater memorial that also helps support marine life and help protect the coastline while serving as a lasting tribute.
“It’s where the individual veteran—and a spouse, if they’d like—can be interred into the marker, and then placed out at sea on a reef off the coast of Wilmington,” said the founder and president of Veterans Memorial Reef, the non-profit behind the program.
The idea started with founder Thomas Marcinowski, a U.S. Army veteran, in response to a growing shortage of space in military cemeteries.
For Rhonda Rardin, the ceremony honored her father, Fred Wilson Evans, who was a veteran. Her mother Ruth will be laid with him.
“My father was a character, and my mother put up with him all these years,” Rardin said.
Her parents were married for more than 60 years.
“Everything was perfect. I said a prayer last night—God, please give me comfort… give me grace… God is with us through this,” she said.
On Monday, May 18, the reef markers will be taken offshore and laid to rest on the Veterans Memorial Reef off the coast of Wrightsville and Carolina Beach.