By Staci DaSilva
sdasilva@kcautv.com
Vietnam veteran John Henry isn't from Sioux City, he never even lived in Sioux City but he's forever resting here because of the kind hearts of the Siouxland community.
Jean Logan's never met John Henry, she doesn't even know what he looked like, but her connection to him runs deep.
It all started almost 9 years ago.
John Henry, a long-time transient after serving our country in Vietnam, stopped in Sioux City for a night at the Gospel Mission. The next day, he would spend his last few moments on train tracks.
"I think that he was reading and for whatever reason when the train sounded its whistle, he didn't hear it or he wasn't able to get out of the way soon enough and so he was killed by a train here," said Jean Logan, Executive Director of the Community Action Agency of Siouxland.
With no emergency contact information and very little known about henry himself, officials contacted Jean Logan and her team at the Community Action Agency of Siouxland.
They operate what's called the General Relief Assistance Program, which provides burial services to families that can't afford them.
"You'd want to do what you would want for your family members. So, at that point, we contacted the American Legion and we worked with the Veterans Department and we started making a lot of phone calls," said Logan.
So, with full military honors, a Sioux City Journal cover story and a donated plot offered by Memorial Park, John Henry was buried in Sioux City.
For almost 8 years, Jean Logan walked by a display case at work. Henry's flag from his funeral sitting right on top.
"I always wondered if there wouldn't be some way, at some point in time maybe some member of his family would know where he was and know what happened to him and know that he was here," said Logan.
And then...it happened, this summer.
"Out of the blue one day, I got a phone call and it was his sister. Her son had been researching her genealogy and found an article that Bret Hayworth had done on the funeral. And it was through that, through the Internet, that she knew where he was," said Logan.
His sister now has the flag from her brother's funeral safe at her home in Texas.
But emotions still keep her from speaking out on what happened and Logan understands.
She herself gets choked up when she thinks about John Henry's life.
While she's happy to bring peace to his sister, she knows her involvement could have been avoided if he had just got some help.
"Nationally, you look at the percentage of veterans that are homeless and it is a very, very high percentage. You look at the number of people that are veterans that are unemployed and that's also, a very very high percentage," said Logan.
In the end, it's a story of loss, separation but most importantly, the sacred bond of compassion that exists between all of us.
