In Excelsis Deo

Sometimes life can imitate art. Last month, a homeless man died of exposure. He was a Marine Corps veteran and the Ramsey County Medical Examiner had trouble locating his family so they went to the public for help. They were able to find a brother down in Missouri to let him know. But the story doesn’t stop there.

Since he was a veteran they wanted to make sure that he had a proper burial, with military honors. A local funeral home worked to help put everything together and today Jerry Jackson was laid to rest at Fort Snelling National Cemetery with a Marine Corps Honor Guard.

For fans of the West Wing, this sounds exactly like the episode that shares its name with the title of this post. In Excelsis Deo (Season 1, Episode 10) was arguably the best that the show ever produced. To see a similar situation happening so close to where I live, I had to go to the services today. Jerry Jackson was a veteran. He deserved nothing less.

Fornuatenly, this is where life stops imitating art. In the show, there were four or five people, plus the honor guard, at the service. Today, for Mr. Jackson, around 150 people were there. The community turned out to make sure a veteran was shown the respect he had earned at the end of this life.

This story probably plays out more often than anybody would care to think about. Homelessness among veterans is above what it is for the general population. We need to work to change that. Those that served our country in the military, regardless of if they were drafted or volunteered, are giving up part of their lives for us. Even after they return from war, the mental and emotional toll is, for me, unimaginable.

It is to the credit of Mara Gottfried for making sure this story was told. We need more reporters like her. And thanks to Bob Collins for posting this at MPR where I saw it.

Though I never met you, thank you Mr. Jackson for serving your country.

And to all of the veterans that have served, thank you.