On a rainy morning in Kaneohe, about 20 people showed up at a memorial service for a man who, just a month earlier, had nobody.

He was homeless, a lifelong Oahu resident, a Navy veteran. He was found unconscious at Ala Moana Beach Park near Magic Island on March 20 and taken to The Queen’s Medical Center, where he later died. His name was Lance Hall. It was two days after his 58th birthday.

One of the physicians who was with him in his last hours, Dr. Maimona Ghows, was troubled that Hall had no one to claim his body and arrange a memorial. She took it upon herself to make sure he had a proper burial.

“He should not end up left in the medical examiner’s office or buried in a common grave,” she said. “That’s not what we as human beings and as a society should do.”

So she started calling people — social workers, veterans’ affairs offices, people she knew had served in the military. After I heard how Ghows was trying to arrange a memorial service and burial for this man, I asked her about caring for her patient even after his death, especially since she had never spoken to him, never even seen him before he was brought to Queen’s before he died. Ghows had no interest in talking about that. “This is not about me,” she said curtly.

Ghows called a friend, a veteran who retired after 23 years in the Navy.

That friend, retired Cmdr. Regina Roberts, took up the mission to get Hall a military service. She made phone calls, eventually reaching Christopher Dunlap of Veterans Affairs. “He was the hero out of all of this,” Roberts said.

Dunlap handles decedent affairs for the VA in the Pacific islands. If a veteran dies and there’s no next of kin, Dunlap helps to arrange a funeral. “Our job is to make sure they are not forgotten or left behind,” Dunlap said. Dunlap’s own service in the Marine Corps was cut short by an injury, but he says in his current role he feels like he can still serve. He tries to attend every funeral he arranges, usually one or two a week.

“It’s an honor to have this position, to make sure veterans like Mr. Hall, who was an organ donor, get the final interment they deserve,” he said.

On May 3 Hall was buried at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in a lei-draped ceremony. The flag at the cemetery was flown at half-staff, a color guard was there, a trumpet player blew out the sorrowful notes of taps and a bagpiper played in Hall’s honor.

About 20 people came, all people who tried to arrange the service. Dunlap was there. Roberts was there. Ghows was working and couldn’t attend, but Roberts went on her behalf and took photos so the doctor could see that her patient was not forgotten. “Lance Hall was celebrated,” Roberts said. At the little ceremony there was no one Hall knew while he was alive, but there were people to speak his name, say aloha and thank him for his service.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.