was a former airman second class . `` Without -LSB- Dickey 's -RSB- persistence , these two individuals would be placed in a county-owned site , '' said Wesley Jones , director of the Bakersfield National Cemetery . `` Nobody would have known . ... Nobody would have any concept of who these individuals were . '' Leon Thomas , who served in the U.S. Army in Korea in 1951 and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star medal for bravery , helped spread the word about the double funeral . `` The folks at the coroner 's office are patriotic Americans , '' Thomas said . `` We got on the phone and on the Internet and invited our friends . '' News of the funeral even made the local paper . `` I really did n't know there would be this many people to come out , '' Sprayberry said . And come they did , civilians and veterans . An awning built to shade mourners from the hot San Joaquin Valley sun was not big enough to cover everyone . A few brought umbrellas for shade . Many held American flags , some small and
Bakersfield , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- When Vincent Barrett died alone in July at age 72 , the coroner 's office could not find any next of kin . Similarly , Ronald Axtell was listed as indigent -- no survivors and no funds for a funeral -- when he died at age 69 . And yet a small army of men and women gathered to pay their respects to the two men , both Air Force veterans , as they were buried at Bakersfield National Cemetery in September . Marsha Dickey , who works in the Kern County coroner 's office , was instrumental in making sure the men got the honors they deserved . `` She worked very hard to see that they were veterans ... and without that ... we probably would not be here today to honor them , '' said Lynn Sprayberry , founder and chairwoman of Friends of Fallen Heroes , a local organization that makes sure veterans receive a respectful service at Bakersfield National Cemetery . The coroner 's office also discovered that Barrett , a former staff sergeant , had been awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in Korea . Axtell