The Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs honored nine individuals – eight veterans and one dependent family member – in an interment ceremony Oct. 22 at Willamette National Cemetery in Happy Valley.
The cremated remains, which had been stored for decades in the Oregon State Hospital after going unclaimed by family members, were finally laid to rest with full military honors in the cemetery.
The veterans honored were born between 1880 and 1911 and served in both the U.S. Army and Navy. At least five were World War I veterans – young men who left farms, factories and small towns across America to serve in the Great War.
Among them were native Oregonians as well as men who came here from as far as Nebraska, New York, Colorado, California, and even the Philippines. Their dates of death ranged from 1932 to 1966.
The eight were:
- Ray Carpenter, a member of the Oregon Army National Guard who served in World War I as a powderman.
- Filipe Castillon, born in the Philippines, who served honorably in both the U.S. Army and Navy.
- Guy Earl Cramer, a U.S. Navy veteran whose service details have been lost to time.
- August Chris Hansen, a Nebraska-born farmer and World War I veteran who tried to reenlist at the start of World War II (at age 49).
- Kenneth Wesley Hugunin, who joined the U.S. Navy at just 15 years old.
- John Jacob Jordan, a World War I veteran who served in France and later sought to reenlist during World War II (at age 53).
- Thomas O’Connor, a San Francisco native who served in an Army engineering battalion.
- Earl Eugene Pollock, a U.S. Army veteran who served with honor during World War I.