At the front of a short procession through the Saratoga National Cemetery Wednesday sat Butch Hyde on his motorcycle.

“I feel it is important to honor all veterans, we are all comrades, we have all been through a lot," Hyde said, who lives in Brunswick.

An Air Force veteran himself, Hyde was trailed by a hearse carrying a man he never came to know, but the two are linked by a shared service to their country in Vietnam.

“We are not alone, we are all together, we have all gone through this," Hyde said, a member of the New York Patriot Guard Riders.

Living a few hours north of the late veteran’s Putnam County home, Tricia Johnston had never met the man being laid to rest either but she too felt a connection.

“It was important because my son is a United States Marine and my father was a veteran from the Korean War,” Johnston said.

The small group, mostly unknown to each other, all came for a singular purpose: To provide a dignified farewell to a stranger who recently died alone — former Army Specialist Ambrose Jacob.

“To read on Facebook this army veteran was homeless, it was just sad for somebody who was out there fighting for us,” Johnston said. “I just felt I needed to come.”

Most in attendance first learned of Jacob's passing after the Putnam County Veterans Service Agency issued a request for people to attend his burial.

“They say a veteran dies two deaths; the day they die and the day somebody stops talking about them,” said Chris O’Brien, a program support assistant at the Saratoga National Cemetery. “Our job here at the cemetery is to make sure nobody forgets his name, regardless if he had family or not.”

For Hyde, who has participated in many services with the Patriot Guard Riders, it is a change to honor a fellow brother in arms.

“It definitely is an honor,” Hyde said. “It doesn’t get old, it is an honor every day, every time we do it, it is a privilege and an honor to show respect.”

Jacob received several awards and decorations during his brief military career, including the National Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon.