'The Dover Detail' works to provide uniforms, medals for burials of deceased veterans
Jerry Vaughan wants every veteran to be honored, even in death.
The U.S. Navy veteran and owner of Down the Road Thrift Store in Titusville began in 2021 The Dover Detail, a nonprofit that helps provide dress uniforms for deceased veterans for burial.
At the time, a Marine with no family had passed away in a nursing home without a uniform in which to be buried. When a funeral director reached out for help, Vaughan and other veterans scrambled to organize a 21-gun salute, escort and other arrangements for him. Vaughan’s biggest concern was the uniform.
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“All (that) I could do was look at the word ‘clothing,’” he said of the note sent by the funeral director.
Vaughan discovered nurses at the nursing home where the Marine died had donated a leisure suit for his burial.
“Nobody knew where to start as far as getting a uniform together,” Vaughan said.
Over the course of about 48 hours, Vaughan worked together with other veterans and organizations, including the Veterans Memorial Complex in Merritt Island, to piece together a 1960s Marine Corps dress blue uniform.
The effort led to the development of The Dover Detail, which gets its name from the Air Force base in Delaware where those killed overseas are traditionally brought before being transferred to family.
Since September of last year, Vaughan and his partners throughout the community have helped provide 25 uniforms for burials around the state, and provided a jacket for a Marine in Houston, Texas.
It’s an effort Vaughan said he needs a community to accomplish.
He said he gets support from businesses such as Stargazers Embroidery in Sharpes, American Army Navy Store in Orlando and veterans from each branch of the military who volunteer to inspect each uniform before it’s delivered for a deceased veteran.
Last month, Indian River Colony Club Foundation — a nearly 800-home community in Viera of veterans — donated about 150 uniforms to The Dover Detail, Vaughan said.
Additionally, the Good Deeds Foundation — the nonprofit program under the Cape Canaveral chapter of Military Officers Association of America — donated $1,000, said Donn Weaver, a retired foreign service officer and volunteer with multiple Brevard veterans organizations. The money will go toward purchasing specific medals prior to veterans' burials.
Weaver, who serves as chairman at the Veterans Memorial Complex, said it’s important to many veterans that they be buried in uniform.
"Veterans want it to be proper — the right uniform that they would have worn, the right medals, the right awards and decorations, the right patches," he said. "And all those things are what Jerry does."
Vaughan echoed that sentiment, saying he feels uniforms should be held in a similar regard as American flags and that they are a way to honor veterans. That’s the goal of his work, he said.
“It is the absolute least that we owe these veterans,” he said. “It is the absolute least that you can do, and that’s what it’s all about for me.”
Vaughan has several drop-off locations for old uniforms around Brevard and neighboring counties, including:
The Veterans Memorial Complex in Merritt Island
Stargazers Embroidery in Sharpes
Daddy O's Diner in Port St. John
Gear Up Surplus in Titusville
G.I. Jeff's in Daytona Beach
American Army Navy Store in Orlando
Finch Walker is a Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Veterans: 'Dovers Detail' provides metals, uniforms for burials
