The Rev. Paul Baker reads scripture at the grave of Leo A. Vuori, a Cambridge native and Navy World War II veteran, Friday at Woodlands Cemetery. Vuori's white headstone and flag are at the right. Henry Bates Jr. (in wheelchair), a classmate and fellow Navy vet, spent almost five years obtaining a Veterans Administration marker for Vuori's grave. Others at the brief ceremony included Cambridge Village Mayor Carman Bogle (left) and Bates's son Tim, behind his wheelchair.
Henry Bates Jr. visits the grave of his Cambridge Union School classmate and fellow Navy veteran Leo A. Vuori in Woodlands Cemetery in Cambridge. Bates, his family and supporters spent almost five years obtaining a grave marker for Vuori from the Veterans Administration.
Cambridge Village Mayor Carman Bogle gives Henry Bates Jr. a hug after the graveside service for Leo Vuori, as Bates's sons Tim (left), Henry III and David look on.
Henry Bates III, David Bates, Cambridge Village Clerk Lance Wang and Tim Bates gather around Henry Bates Jr. at the grave of Leo A. Vuori in Woodlands Cemetery in Cambridge.
CAMBRIDGE — A Cambridge veteran’s grave is no longer unmarked thanks to an almost five-year effort by another veteran, his family, local supporters and the office of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville.
Henry Bates Jr., his family and friends gathered Friday morning in Woodlands Cemetery to dedicate a white marble gravestone for Leo A. Vuori. Bates and Vuori were classmates at what was then the Cambridge Union School. They graduated in 1944 and both enlisted in the Navy.
“A large portion of that class went right into the service,” said Bates’ son Tim, who attended the graveside service with his brothers Henry III (Skip) and David.
Bates was assigned to the USS Gwin, a destroyer-mine layer, and served in the Pacific Theater. He was recalled during the Korean War and stationed in South Carolina and Virginia. Vuori served on six ships during his enlistment, David Bates said.
Vuori died in 1980 in Virginia and was buried two days later in Cambridge’s Woodlands Cemetery, but apparently there was no service and the grave was never marked, the Bates family said. Vuori’s widow, Sylvia, was buried next to him when she passed away in 2000.
Henry Bates didn’t realize his old friend was buried in Woodlands until Tim Bates found a record of the interment in The Post-Star, Tim said. When he saw that the grave was unmarked, Henry Bates decided to get a marker for him from the Veterans Administration.
Proving Vuori’s eligibility for a stone was challenging, Tim Bates said. Vuori had enlisted, left the Navy and returned. Many Navy personnel records, Vuori’s apparently among them, were destroyed some years ago in a fire. The Bates family resorted to researching the lists of who served aboard various ships to document his service. Then the person at the VA who was handling the request retired.
“The request was misplaced and we had to start over,” Tim Bates said.
Cambridge Village Clerk Lance Wang, also a veteran, became involved in the effort. The Bateses also contacted Stefanik’s office. Joel Woods, one of her staffers, “got the paperwork and called me in two days. He took the ball and ran with it,” Tim Bates said.
Except for the inscription, the simple stone exactly matches Sylvia Vuori’s. Tim Bates called it “providence—God moved.”
On Friday, the Bateses, Wang, Cambridge Village Mayor Carman Bogle and a few friends came together at the grave. Henry Bates, 92, attended in a wheelchair. The Rev. Paul Baker, a retired Episcopal priest who lives in the area, read from the Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer.
Wang praised Bates for his perseverance. Noting that the marker arrived just in time for Memorial Day, “there’s no more appropriate day to honor Leo,” Wang said.
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.
