MERCER COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Christy McCoy's father served in the Marines and the Army, but she's having trouble getting him the burial she says he deserves due to a typo.
McCoy's father, Balford Stokley, Jr., died on December 19.
"It was hard. You know, I was set up there with him in hospital, in the ICU,” McCoy said. “And we had to say our last goodbyes to him and take him off the ventilator.”
An already difficult time was about to be compounded with issues she wouldn't have expected.
"My father served, as a Marine, and then when he got discharged -- honorable discharge -- as a Marine, he joined also the Army Reserve," McCoy shared
McCoy wanted to have her father buried with military honors - as he would have wanted, as well.
When McCoy was going through paperwork to try and secure the proper documentation from the marines, she ran into trouble.
She did not have a DD214.
Sims Funeral Home Owner and Director, Genie Sims began helping McCoy.
“And that's why we've been trying to help Christy get this done,” said Sims. “Because he is a deserving marine corps veteran."
“So, without the DD214, that stops everything. We cannot proceed with any type of honorable military burial."
When they tried to get that document, an error on her father's military paperwork stood in the way.
"My father's name is B-A-L-F-O-R-D. And they spelled it B-A-L-F-R-E-D."
The misspelling, coupled with a wrong digit on his social security number on file, put them at a roadblock.
"My family is wanting to go ahead and put my father to rest at a local cemetery. I'm fighting for my father. He was a tough guy, and he raised tough kids. And I'm his daughter, and I'm going to make sure that he gets what he earned."
Ideally, he would be buried at Camp Nelson.
"My father loved the military. and we have a lot of people in my family that are in the military, including my son. This has been devastating for us.”
As the family waits to learn if they will get the documents needed from the military, they're running out of time to have their father buried.
McCoy says they are reaching out to our representatives in congress to try and get help, as well.
