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This is the story behind the PGR ride on Friday..

The Maine PGR has been invited to help Honor and pay final Respects to fourVeterans' who will be buried at the Boscawen Veteran's Cemetery in BoscawenNH at 2 pm on Friday - August 22. These Hero's have remained unclaimed andwaiting for burial, one since 1974. The Patriot Guard Riders and others will help serve as "friends and family"for this solemn and much overdue service.

From 'shelf people' to honored vets By SHAWNE K. WICKHAMNew Hampshire Sunday News Staff

Sunday, Aug.17, 2008 As young men, they served their country honorably, in wartime and in peace. But they died alone and forgotten -- no honor guard, no folded flag, noplaying of Taps to mark their passing.
Now, thanks to the efforts of a Manchester funeral director and the directorof the state veterans cemetery, that wrong is about to be set right. This Friday, a military burial will be held at the New Hampshire StateVeterans Cemetery in Boscawen for four servicemen whose cremated remains hadbeen unclaimed for years.
The men are: John A. "Jean" Bissonnette, Robert A. Caughey, John E. Davisonand William J. "Jack" Mitchell.
The four are what funeral directors call "shelf people." It's a grim but little-known fact: Funeral homes across the state havepossession of cremated remains no loved one ever claimed.
"There's no family or friends or anyone to step forward. We just sort ofhold onto them," explained Arthur "Buddy" Phaneuf, owner of Phaneuf FuneralHomes & Crematorium in Manchester.
It was a chance conversation a few months back between Phaneuf and RogerDesjardins, director of the veterans cemetery, that led to the extraordinaryceremony taking place this Friday.
Phaneuf had mentioned his funeral home's ongoing efforts to track downrelatives of its "shelf people" to Desjardins, who asked whether any of themmight have been veterans. "Let me help you. We can give them a decent interment here," Desjardinsoffered.
It took months of research into military records, but the two men were able to prove that four of Phaneuf's "shelf people" were honorably dischargedveterans, eligible for free burial in the state veterans cemetery.
In thecase of John Bissonnette, his remains had been at Phaneuf's for 34 years. "It's really heartwarming to see that we've at last found a home for thesecomrades," Desjardins said.
The four men will be buried with full military honors, with taps, aflag-folding ceremony, perhaps even a 21-gun salute if Desjardins can lineit up.
Representatives of veterans organizations will accept the foldedflags on behalf of each man's family. "We're going to have a nice little ceremony," Desjardins said. The Rev. Gary Rolph, chaplain for the V.A. Medical Center in Manchester,will offer prayers, and military honor guards from the Army and Air Forcewill be on hand.
There seems to be a shared sense of mission around honoring these veterans who died with no one to grieve their passing, or even receive the flags attheir funerals.
Master Sgt. Dana Moore from the New Hampshire Military Forces Honor Guard inFranklin said he feels a special sense of obligation to honor the men. "It'sthe least we can do," he said. "It's better late than never."
Phaneuf Funeral Homes donated four burial urns, inscribed with the insignia of each veteran's branch of service. "It's just the right thing to do,"Phaneuf said. Desjardins is hoping for a respectable crowd for Friday's 2 p.m. ceremony,which is open to the public. "I just think we need to pay our respects tothese guys," he said. "They're not forgotten by us, that's for sure."
He also hopes this will not be the end of the story; he knows there are moreveterans out there whose remains are unclaimed. "I'm hoping these localveterans organizations will knock on the doors of their local funeralhomes," he said.
Pics to follow....