Hundreds attend funeral service to honor Vietnam War veteran
Saturday, hundreds of people in Mid-Missouri attended a funeral service for a local veteran whose remains have been found after 45 years.
Sgt. Rodney Griffin from Centralia died in the line of duty during the Vietnam War when his army helicopter was shot down over Cambodia.
After years of searching, Sgt. Griffin’s remains arrived at the St. Louis Lambert International Airport Thursday morning and were brought to Centralia for the funeral.
Centralia High School’s gym was packed wall to wall with family members including Sgt. Griffin’s wife and brother, friends and other veterans from the Vietnam War. Gov. Nixon and representatives of the Missouri National Guard, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Missouri Veterans Commission also attended to pay their respects.
“I’m very happy that he’s home,” Darryl Griffin, Sgt. Griffin’s brother said. “I wish he’d have come home alive, but that didn’t happen. But the communities from St. Louis to here to Centralia, the prayers and the spirit of patriotism just warms my family’s heart.”
Sgt. Griffin, a graduate of Centralia High School, was 21 years old when his army helicopter was shot down in 1970. He was listed as missing in action for 45 years.
Darryl Griffin said he got a call Feb. 11 from the government saying they had positively identified his brother’s remains from DNA samples he and his other brother gave nearly 20 years ago.
“Finally a boy who was six years old at the time it happened, he’s 51 now, told them where he thought the older people in the village said that it was buried three Americans,” Griffin said. “And they went to that place, and they finally found him.”
Several people spoke at the service including a few of Sgt. Griffin’s close friends and army Capt. Ryan Ball, also from Centralia, who was a guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
Rep. Stephen Webber, (D)-Columbia, who served two tours overseas in the Iraq War, said there is one thing that stood out to him.
“As somebody who lost friends in war, it’s nice to see that people still remember him and truly care, really forever,” Rep. Webber said. “But it’s also tough to see that it caused so much pain for 45 years.”
After the funeral, a procession led by Patriot Guard motorcyclists led the hearse to a private graveside service at East Lawn Memorial Park in Mexico.
More than 400 American flags are set up across Centralia this week to represent all Centralia-area veterans who have lost their lives. Officials said now that Sgt. Griffin is back home, not a single one of those flags represents a soldier missing in action.
