One survived World War II. Another made it out of Vietnam. The third served his country during peace time.

Most servicemen are sent off with gallant funerals in death, firing line salutes, a trumpet playing "Taps" and U.S. flag pageantry, but it wasn't looking like that would be the case for three Macomb County veterans who died over the last year.

Their bodies instead lay in morgue freezers.

No family or friends came to collect them. No one was planning a patriotic funeral on their behalf; that is, until the Macomb Veterans Action Collaborative, an agency that helps homeless veterans, linked up with Harold W. Vick Funeral Home in Mount Clemens, which was founded by a veteran in 1971.

Michael Kolb, the funeral director, wants to help forgotten veterans by giving them a funeral and burial fitting for the service they provided the nation.

U.S. Airman Second Class Gerald Suttkus, 81, a Detroit native living in Harrison Township, died at home on May 1. He served in the Vietnam War from 1959 until 1965. He later worked as a shipping clerk for a manufacturing company.

Navy Seaman First Class Cyril Brown, 90, of Clinton Township, died Oct. 21, 2017 at Detroit Receiving Hospital. He served during World War II from June 1944 to June 1946.

Thomas Novak, 59, of Warren, died in an area hospital died on April 25. He served as a private first class in the U.S. Army from 1975 to 1976.

Nearly 100 strangers attended a combined funeral service for the veterans at Harold W. Vick Funeral Home on Thursday, Aug. 2.

They got their gallant sendoff, complete with "Taps," a flag-folding ceremony and gun salute.

They won't be buried in unmarked pauper graves, like so many other unclaimed dead, but instead alongside others who served in the military services at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly.

Kolb, who's been a funeral director for 18 years, says the funeral home is reimbursed about a quarter of the actual cost of cremation, a memorial service, transport and interment. The funeral home receives nearly $800 in funds set aside by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for indigent burials, and $170 reimbursed from the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs.

So far, the funeral home has coordinated services for nearly 50 unclaimed veterans, and provided services for nearly 200 civilians facing similar circumstances.

"I like doing this stuff, being a veteran myself," said Frank Newman, who attended the memorial ceremony Thursday. "It's kind of sad that they've been forgotten -- I don't know why nobody from their family has claimed them, or whatever -- but it's a sad commentary.

"Somebody that served their country, they deserve respect and I think this is a nice way of giving some respect back to these people who've been forgotten by their families and to honor their service to this country."

MLive photographer Tanya Moutzalias contributed to this story.