DENVER—An honor guard of veterans fired a 21-gun salute Tuesday at a national cemetery for a World War II serviceman who died in prison while serving time for killing his wife.
About 30 people attended the service at Fort Logan National Cemetery for Raymond R. Sawyer, 83.
Some veterans said Sawyer, a former Marine who served in the Pacific Theater, shouldn’t be buried at Fort Logan because of the criminal case and because of allegations that he falsely claimed to have received a valor medal.
The only conviction that disqualifies veterans from burial in a national cemetery is a capital crime, according to federal law. Sawyer’s case wasn’t considered a capital offense, Arizona officials said.
A summary of the law on a Veterans Affairs Department website doesn’t mention contested medal claims.
Sawyer died Aug. 11 in a Tucson, Ariz., penitentiary, where he was serving 13 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The Arizona Department of Corrections said the cause of his death is still under investigation.
Sawyer’s wife, Frances A. Sawyer, was found strangled in 1981 in Glendale, Ariz., where the couple lived. Glendale police said they went to the Denver suburb of Arvada, where Sawyer had moved, to interview him in 2007 and he revealed details only the killer would know.
He entered a guilty plea in 2008.
An honor guard made up of former Marines refused a request made through the Marine Corps to participate in Sawyer’s cemetery service, citing the murder case and medal dispute.
There was no sign of any protest outside a brick-and-glass shelter at Fort Logan where about 30 people had gathered for the service.
Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Elaine Buehler said the honor guard at Sawyer’s service came from American Legion Post 161 in Arvada.
Honor guard members didn’t comment as they left. A woman who answered the phone at the post headquarters said the commander wasn’t available to comment.
Members of the honor guard carried a folded American flag and a small box containing Sawyer’s cremated remains into the shelter. A bagpiper played at the start and the finish, a bugler played “Taps,” and other members of the honor guard fired the 21-gun salute.
No uniformed Marines were seen. Marine Corps officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Legion of Valor, an organization chartered by Congress that keeps a role of valor medal recipients, said Sawyer claimed in 2006 that he had received the Navy Cross, the Navy’s second-highest honor.
The group rejected the claim, saying no evidence could be found to support it.
Sawyer’s daughter, Mary Sawyer, has said she believes her father did receive the medal. She told Denver television station KUSA that the decision on where to inter her father’s remains was strictly a family matter.
