Stepdaughter tries to get vet released from morgue

A decorated war hero who died on Veteran’s Day might get his final wishes fulfilled if a probate judge agrees to release his body to his stepdaughter during a probate hearing this morning.

Manual Maurice “C.W.” Walden, a U.S. Marine veteran who received the Purple Heart twice and was awarded the Bronze Star for valor for his service during the Vietnam War, died Nov. 11. His remains have lain unclaimed on a refrigerated slab in the Galveston County morgue since then because the medical examiner has been unable to find any blood relatives.

His close friend Coyt Mangum said that is just not acceptable.

“I’m really angry over this,” Mangum said. “I’ve been getting the runaround, no one would allow me to move forward and take care of his final arrangements because they can’t find any family. His family is gone; I’m the only family he has.”

Mangum, who also served in Vietnam, met Walden in a Galveston bar 25 years ago. The two became fast friends and often worked welding jobs together. In recent years, Mangum built the disabled vet an apartment on the ground floor of his home because health issues forced Walden to use a wheelchair. Mangum said the retired welder was well known around Galveston as a guy that would give the shirt off his back to anyone in need.

As it turned out, Walden was helping others even after his death. Mangum on Monday gave Walden’s wheelchair to Al Perdew, a veteran whose own wheelchair had been stolen from his truck.

“He was really generous, everyone loved C.W.,” Mangum said. “He had a lot of tragedy in his life, but he was still really good to people.”

Walden, originally from the Northern Michigan Peninsula, married his hometown sweetheart and moved her and her two daughters from a previous marriage to Oklahoma. A year later, the family moved to Galveston, and Manual found work as a welder.

In 2001, Walden’s 32-year-old stepdaughter, Cammy Lynn Keleman, was found murdered in a field near a dirt road that led to Swan Lake, near Loop 197 at the Texas City Wye.

Two days later, his wife died of a heart attack.

“Those were dark days,” Magnum said. “We had a double funeral that week. That was the toughest thing he ever had to deal with.”

Mangum said Walden’s surviving stepdaughter, Crissy Keleman, had called to claim the body, but because she never was formally adopted by Walden, she was not considered next of kin. Mangum said his attempts to claim the body has been just as unsuccessful.

“We try to find the next of kin, we use every method we can,” John Florence of the Galveston County Medical Examiners office said. “The law says we need to hold a body for six days before turning over to Social Services if we can’t find next of kin, but we’ll hold it as long as we can to try to make sure the deceased is reunited with family for proper burial.”

Florence said while he sympathizes with Mangum, the law prevents him from handing over his friend’s body.

Mangum approached the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for assistance.

“They told me not to worry, that they take care of their own,” Mangum said.

“I really thought we would get C.W. what he wanted. Turns out all they offered was a flag, a headstone, a concrete slab and a burial site at the VA graveyard in Houston.”

Mangum said that was about the same as a pauper’s funeral. He said Walden wanted to be cremated and have his ashes buried with his wife and her daughter in Michigan, something Magnum said the VA would not provide.

Mangum said he was willing to cover the costs of ensuring his friend’s final wishes were respected.

If Keleman will allow, Mangum said he’d drive his friend’s ashes to Michigan and place them with his wife’s.

“I’ll wait until summer.” Mangum said, laughing. “I mean, it is the Northern Peninsula of Michigan, and Maurice moved here because he liked the warmth.”

The Daily News contacted U.S. Rep. Ron Paul’s office for comment about how unclaimed veterans remains were handled by the state. Paul’s office contacted Mangum and instructed him and Keleman to appeal to the probate court with a copy of Walden’s birth certificate, with Keleman requesting to be named executor of Walden’s estate.

Mangum said he hoped that will finally resolve the issue, and he can put his friend to rest.

“There are brothers by blood and there are brothers by combat,” Mangum said. “He was a jarhead, I was a medic. He was my closest friend, he was like my brother. What does it take to be called ‘next of kin’ in this situation?”