A place of quiet remembrance, the Southwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery came alive on Thursday with people wishing to pay final respects to six United States Veterans.
Cars lined both sides of Evangeline Road in Jennings as Acadiana came out to "stand in the gap" for the men who had no family to remember them.
A procession began in St. Mary Parish on Thursday morning as urns carrying the remains of the veterans were placed into a hearse for their journey from Morgan City.
"We may not be blood kin but we're all family of veterans," said Vance Beaver, member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma. "There's no such thing as a veteran with no family."
The proceedings, originally scheduled for Tuesday, were postponed until March 24 due to severe weather.
"I was fixing to come here during the storm if they'd have had it I would've been here. So they canceled it to today but I wanted to show the deceased veterans that yeah we are family I will be here," said Beaver.
Bobby Boudreaux, who was part of Thursday's firing squad and a member of VFW Post 12182, said it was his honor to honor the fallen.
"Every time I shoot I get chills because I very much appreciate our veterans that served our country," he said. "Especially those that did not make it back home."
For some who attended, the ceremony was personal.
St. Martinville resident Wanda Broussard's son Beau died suddenly two years ago. He served in the army in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I hurried up got dressed and came to this because it would've been another part of closure to me," said Broussard. "This was just a great really great celebration of life."
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