Civil War vet's ashes pass through Montana on ride home to Maine

BILLINGS, Mont. — A group of motorcycle-riding military veterans who are carrying the ashes of a Civil War veteran to their final resting place have passed through Billings.

The Billings Gazette reports that Montana state chapter members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group that attends the funerals of U.S. military veterans, firefighters and police, transferred the ashes of Jewett Williams on Wednesday before completing the next leg to the Wyoming border.
Williams served in the 20th Maine Regiment in the Civil War. When he died in 1922 at an Oregon insane asylum, he was cremated and his ashes were stored and forgotten along with the remains of thousands of other patients. On Monday the Patriot Guard Riders took off to Maine, where Williams' ashes will be laid to rest with military honors.

Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com

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