Honoring the heroes who didn’t make it home

Memorial Day is when we honor those who have died serving our country, but it can be an especially painful day for the families of service members who remain missing in action, some for decades.

Related: Seattle cemetery honors forgotten hero 66 years later

Navy Commander Domenick “Spike” Anthony Spinelli is among them. He was an ace navigator and bombardier from Oak Harbor who enlisted during World War II and rose through the ranks to become an officer during the Vietnam War. He was dubbed missing in action when his A-6 Intruder was shot down on a reconnaissance mission over enemy territory.

Spinelli’s name was misfiled and never made it on to the list of Washington’s fallen heroes — until today, 29 years later. Heidi Audette, with the Washington State Office of Veterans Affairs, says researchers caught the mistake and now his name will be added to 1,124 others on Vietnam Memorial in Olympia.

“I think that it can help to bring closure to those families. Domenick Anthony Spinelli is still listed as unaccounted for in the Department of Defense,” said Brenda Spicer, manager of Evergreen Washelli Cemetery. “So I think it’s very important that we’re able to signify that on our memorial because it does have great importance for the fact that these individuals have never been able to come home.”

Spinelli’s name will be listed with a “+” symbol, which means his remains have not been recovered.

Thousands of families like Spinelli’s still don’t know what happened to their loved ones.

But for those who came home after paying the ultimate price, volunteers will walk rows of gravestones and lay them with wreaths and flags.

Monday marks the 90th year staff at Seattle’s Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery have hosted ceremonies for the 5,000 veterans interred there.

“We literally start a month before Memorial Day working to get everything picture perfect,” Spicer said.

The cemetery is the final resting place for seven Medal of Honor recipients. And Evergreen-Washelli prides itself on preserving those decades of history with extensive grave markers.

“Read the markers – you can see people who passed on way back in the 1800s, to people modern-day,” Spicer said. “Today’s markers, you can see pictures of people in full color and you can see epitaphs with wonderful stories and mementos and pictures of things that are meaningful to their life. In the olden days, you can see hand carvings, which was [sic] chiseled, so there’s a big difference.”

Visitors will be able to see the memorial for the first time after it underwent extensive repairs for cracks and received upgrades to the lighting.

Festivities at Evergreen-Washelli begin at 1:30 p.m.