Marine Vietnam veteran buried months after dying in nursing home

A Vietnam War veteran who died in September was given a funeral with military honors Tuesday after months passed and no family members emerged.

Stephen Myerson, 72, was living at a nursing home in Elgin when he died. Laird Funeral Home donated its services, The Daily Herald reported.

“This poor guy was brought out here from Chicago and put in a nursing home down the street — no friends, no family, nobody,” said Steven Laird, who owns the business with his brother Rob.

Myerson was buried at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood. He served in the Marine Corps from 1968 to 1970 and earned a National Defense Service Medal and a Vietnam Service Medal with one star.

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Army veteran Herbert Bolding of Elgin said he attended the funeral to “pay my respects to a brother.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” Bolding said. “I would hope he would have done the same thing for me if it had happened that way.”

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