Man Discovers Military Veteran's Ashes And Flag In Storage Unit, Returns Items To His Brother

Sep 09, 2019 by apost team

A lost sailor was finally able to receive the burial of a hero after his remains were discovered in a storage facility, and it’s all thanks to a determined stranger.

Ryan Newcomb was a Navy veteran from Colorado. He had suffered a very serious brain injury while on active duty, and he served our great nation as a talented nuclear engineer for years. He sadly passed away in 2017 at the age of 42 reports The Denver Channel. His widow received his cremated remains, and the rest of the family assumed his body was in the right hands.

None of the surviving family knew it, but Newcomb’s remains were sitting in the back of a storage locker somewhere in Smyrna, Tennessee reports FOX 17. The worst part is that the payments weren’t being made for the unit, and its contents were up for sale at the facility’s routine auction. Shawn Pullen was completely surprised while going through all of the contents of the locker after he bought it. Pullen often purchases items to resell at his S&J Variety Store in Lafayette.

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He was loading up the contents of the small room to take back to the storefront when he noticed a flag and urn. Pullen wasn’t sure what he could do to get the remains back into the right hands, but he was determined to find the veteran a proper resting place.

There was no way for the patriotic store owner to find any contact information for Newcomb’s family members, so he decided to honor the Navy veteran with a memorial in his store. Pullen put Newcomb's ashes on a table at the front of his shop, and he displayed the memorial flag in its case for everyone to see.

Pullen chose to create a memorial because he thought that Newcomb had been abandoned far too long, and he decided that the veteran deserved to be honored for his service. A curious customer eventually asked Pullen about the memorial, and that’s when everything fell into place.

The customer knew that the remains would be traceable back to the mortuary that held the funeral services. That’s how Pullen got into contact with the local funeral home in Metairie, Louisiana. They quickly contacted Chris Newcomb, and he was shocked to find out that his brother’s remains had been so mistreated by his brother’s widow.

Chris lives in Denver, Colorado, but he was happy to make the long trip to Tennessee to meet with Pullen. Newcomb’s ashes were finally laid to rest in undisclosed locations that were special to the brothers. Chris claims that words can’t express how thankful he is that such a kind person exists in the world. Pullen kept the case for the memorial flag as a reminder of the events, and he continues to honor Newcomb through the memorial in his store.

Do you have a relative who served in the military? Tell us their story, and let everyone know that you are proud of your loved ones that have served our great nation!