(West Des Moines, IA) -- An American Civil War soldier is among 20 veterans being laid to rest today Friday at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery. It came after an exhaustive search through documents provided by a local funeral home.
"They gave us records for probably close to two hundred people, and they were really old records, so we're going through piece by piece, " said Lanae Strovers, with The Final Salute.
The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. with a social hour at West Des Moines Christian Church (4501 Mills Civic Pkwy), followed by the service at 11 a.m.
"We're going to have coffee, cookies, some light refreshments, a just have some time to see the urns that the [[Prairie City-Monroe]] shop class made for us."
During the service, the life stories of each of the veterans will be shared, Strovers says.
Joseph Chedester was a Tennessee Union Army Civil War veteran who died while visiting Des Moines in 1929. The cremains of Chedester, along with the 19 other veterans and five spouses will then be transferred to the Iowa Veterans Cemetery, near Van Meter.
It's the sixth year for the final salute. This year, the service was moved to the end of September from earlier in the summer during previous years.
The route will depart West Des Moines Christian Church and take a route to the Iowa Veterans Cemetery near Van Meter.
Strover was interviewed on the Simon Conway Show on Newsradio 1040 WHO, 600 WMT, and 1420 WOC.