Arlington hospital offers Final Salute for veterans who die there

BY TRACI PETERSON

Vera Moore gets emotional when she recalls the special ceremony at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital to honor her longtime companion, Daniel Rhoads.

It was just a few days after Veterans Day in November and the hospital had just started its Final Salute protocol, a new program to honor veterans.

Rhoads, 88, who served in the Army from 1944 to 1945, died in the Arlington Memorial hospice unit. Afterward, with Moore’s permission, a solemn volunteer honor guard of hospital employees draped Rhoads’ body in an U.S. flag. Then they escorted the gurney that carried him to a hearse waiting at the hospital’s front entrance.

“They announced it, and when we walked down the corridor, people were standing — the staff, visitors at the hospital, the volunteers. They were standing shoulder to shoulder in the corridor and they had their hand on their hearts,” Moore said tearfully. “That just means so much to me because they were showing their respect for his life and the fact that he served in the armed forces.”