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Coronavirus Pandemic Postpones Veterans’ Final Military Ceremony

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Jay Price, Amanda Magnus, Jay Price
Published April 7, 2020 at 2:53 PM EDT
Ivar Lonon walks away from the plot where the remains of his father and mother were buried at Salisbury National Cemetery in Salisbury, N.C., on Thursday, March 26, 2020.
Ivar Lonon walks away from the plot where the remains of his father and mother were buried at Salisbury National Cemetery in Salisbury, N.C., on Thursday, March 26, 2020.

COVID-19 is changing all aspects of life — including the rituals we associate with death. All funerals have been upended, but veterans have now lost one particularly important ceremony: burial with military honors. 

Host Frank Stasio talks to WUNC military and veterans affairs reporter Jay Price about how a coronavirus policy change is affecting North Carolina’s military cemeteries and grieving families.

WUNC military and veterans affairs reporter Jay Price shares his reporting with host Frank Stasio about how this policy change is affecting North Carolina’s five active military cemeteries and how families are coping.

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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Jay Price
Jay Price is the military and veterans affairs reporter for North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC.
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Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus
Jay Price
Jay Price has specialized in covering the military for nearly a decade. Before joining WUNC, he was a senior reporter for the News & Observer in...