![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25182813185359.jpg.jpg\")
Investigators have tried to explain the memory loss and floated theories about brain damage related to a 1950 car accident that killed Bailey\u2019s mother or to military service. That included stints at Fort Ord in California, a polluted former Army base, and Fort McClellan in Alabama, formerly used for chemical weapons training, and where the federal government has acknowledged potential exposure to toxins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neither family, investigators nor residents of the worker house figured out the meaning behind the name Seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ingram, who lives in Alabama, couldn\u2019t make the ceremony this week. But she asked volunteers from an Illinois chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution to attend on her behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEverybody who comes to visit that cemetery will pass by it and know who she was,\u201d said Ingram, whose detailed family trees include records using Bailey\u2019s birth name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honoring a complicated life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mark Bailey said he and his son wanted to bring something to the service that would honor both parts of their long-lost relative\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They had heard their relative had an affinity for the Cubs and looked for a jersey with the number \u201c7\u201d on it, but settled on a blue team cap. They set it on the headstone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The service held Tuesday included prayers, a 21-gun salute and a bugler playing taps \u2014 a chilling, 24-note salute that is traditionally played at funerals of U.S. military veterans. Attendees included Cook County sheriff\u2019s investigators and Archdiocese of Chicago staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just wish the rest of them could be identified as well,\u201d Mark Bailey told those attending while pointing to the rows of unidentified graves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dart, the Cook County sheriff, said the ceremony left him nearly speechless, saying the Illinois veteran deserved military honors and a flag from the U.S. president \u201cinstead of being forgotten and left as an anonymous number somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relatives said they planned to eventually display the flag at the American Legion in Potomac, near where the Bailey family has roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark Bailey said the acknowledgement of military service was particularly meaningful with so many veterans in the extended family. He hoped the memory would stay with his son Cole, who plans to enlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor him, it\u2019ll be something he\u2019ll have forever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An extraordinary cold case investigation revealed a formerly unidentified ward of the state to be a Women’s Army Corps veteran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,25,19,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3122],"class_list":["post-73179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QFO3PG23OFCE5AYUCGOT52UVYI","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2025\/07\/03\/illinois-veteran-bestowed-military-honors-nearly-a-decade-after-death\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n