“He dedicated his life to the service,” Wade Spiegel said, as he sat in the front row of his father, Master Sgt. Kenneth Spiegel’s, funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery on April 15, 2025. Staring at his father’s urn, he added, “Even after he retired, he was 100 percent still involved, every single day and now he’s home.”
Kenneth Spiegel joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966 and served one combat tour in Vietnam, where he was wounded several times. He left the service the following year, but soon found that “civilian life wasn't for him anymore,” Wade recalled. In 1976, Spiegel reenlisted—this time in the Army, in which he remained for 15 years and retired as a master sergeant.
Spiegel’s service to his country did not end when he took off the uniform. He helped found the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter in his hometown of Harrison, Michigan; started an annual ceremony to honor Vietnam veterans; and created his own “challenge coins,” medallions given out to recognize military achievements.
Spiegel’s children recalled their father decorating the interior of his house with military memorabilia. “It was covered in Marine Corps and Army ‘everything,’” Wade said. “Every inch of his house had something military.”
When Spiegel passed away in 2023, his children held a celebration-of-life service in Harrison that included military honors. Because military honors had already been rendered, his funeral service at Arlington was simple but meaningful, with a few prayer readings before Wade carried his father’s urn to the plot where it would be buried. Spiegel’s children took turns standing before the plot to say their final goodbyes.
As family and friends departed the cemetery, Wade offered a last reflection on his father’s love of service. “He was so proud of that uniform, with all of those metals that were shining,” he said. “He wore that proudly.”