Community leaders and family association members held a funeral for two Taiwanese senior veterans – both of them over 70 years old – on April 9, 2008. Attendees and representatives of the Association for Retired Taiwanese Veterans in America (ARTVA) praised the two veterans and their service to the country, while urging the community to pay more attention and offer more care to seniors who live alone.

The funeral for Xi-wei Lu, in his 70s, and Chong-zhi Li, 74, took place in a Chinatown funeral home at noon. Representatives from Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Kuomintang (East Coast), a long-standing political party in Taiwan, Chinese Consolidated Beneficiary Association (CCBA), and many other organizations joined dozens of members from ARTVA to bid farewell to the two deceased.

In his speech, Tie-han Li, chairman of ARTVA, thanked the Chinese community for sponsoring the funeral and burial of the two veterans. “Since 1998, many veterans who have registered with ARTVA have passed away,” he said. “Thanks to the assistance from the community, those who didn’t have family members in the United States can walk their final path in dignity.”

Chen-qing Bian, vice chairman of ARTVA, sighed when he remembered the final years of Lu's life. With no family or friends, the association was informed about his death four months after he died, said Bian. In 2002, Lu married a young woman from China, but soon after obtaining her green card, the wife left and never returned. She left Lu alone after suffering a major stroke that left part of his body paralyzed.

Although Li was not left behind in misery, he suffered from heart disease, which kept him in the hospital for a short period of time. After he was sent home, Li died from a serious heart attack. His body was discovered by a visiting nurse the next day. Since neither Lu nor Li had family members, their bodies remained unburied until the community became involved. It was Lin Sing Association, a family association for Cantonese-dialect speaking Chinese immigrants, which began a fund-raising campaign. Ng Fook Funeral Home agreed to cover all the expenses for the funeral service.

Justin Yu, president of CCBA, who knew Lu for a long time, said he had advised the deceased veteran not to marry a person so much younger than himself, but “it didn't stop the tragedy from happening.” Xue-hai Chang, representative of the Kuomintang (East Coast), said that veterans may consider returning to Taiwan for better nursing and caring services.

According to U.S. regulations, deceased individuals who have not family to sign a death certificate must be buried instead of cremated. Amy Chen, owner of Ng Fook Funeral Home, explained that without advance planning, even seniors who live alone and who have personal savings cannot count on automatically covering the expenses of funeral service. She encouraged seniors to register for prearrangement, which allows them to appoint a funeral home to make proper arrangements after death, including the choice of cemetery.