Family waits 12 months for Korean War veteran’s headstone

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    PHOENIX (KPHO/KTVK) — Yvonne Lincoln visits her husband’s gravesite nearly every day.

“I just miss him so much,” she told 3 On Your Side as she cried near his grave. But she says her visits are heartbreaking because 12 months after he was put to rest, there’s no headstone. “It’s terrible because that’s my husband right there, but nobody knows.”

Yvonne and her daughters have been looking at the depressing burial site for a year, staring at nothing but brown grass. They say it’s not how a loved one should be remembered. “It’s very disrespectful for our veterans, our Korean War veterans,” she said.

Charles R. Lincoln served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. In fact, Yvonne still has her husband’s dress blues. The two were married for more than 50 years, raising a family, and Charles eventually retired as a cement worker. But it was his military service he was most proud of. “He just loved life. And he explained all about his life in the service to his grandkids.”

But last June, Charles passed away. The family says his funeral was beautiful and easy to deal with because Charles had made burial arrangements years earlier, arrangements that included a headstone. However, that headstone isn’t in place, leaving his grave unmarked. “I sit over there under the tree and sit, and this is what I look at.”

Yvonne and her family say they’ve complained to Dignity Memorial for the past 12 months asking about Charles’ headstone but got no answers. However, that changed once 3 On Your Side got involved. “I can’t thank you guys enough. And Channel 3 too, you guys are awesome,” Yvonne said as she looked on at her husband’s new headstone.

Just two hours after I contacted the mortuary, they placed a headstone recognizing the life and death of Charles R. Lincoln. After 12 long months of waiting, his unmarked grave has significance. And his family says they finally have closure.

“He knows we were fighting for him. And that’s why we got this because of Gary Harper and 3 On Your Side. We did it!”

The cemetery never said where the headstone has been for the past year. But clearly, it was being stored somewhere nearby because it was immediately put in place once it was brought to their attention. And again, the family has closure.

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