Bakersfield, California (CNN) -- When Vincent Barrett died alone in July at age 72, the coroner's office could not find any next of kin.
Similarly, Ronald Axtell was listed as indigent -- no survivors and no funds for a funeral -- when he died at age 69.
And yet a small army of men and women gathered to pay their respects to the two men, both Air Force veterans, as they were buried at Bakersfield National Cemetery in September.
