Vietnam Veteran Who “Loved History” Laid to Rest at Historic Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery

On June 10, 2026, U.S. Navy Radioman Petty Officer 1st Class Louis Rine was laid to rest at the historic United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery (SAHNC) in Washington, D.C. A Vietnam War combat veteran, Rine spent his last years residing at the nearby Armed Forces Retirement Home (commonly known as the Soldiers' and Airmen’s Home). Because only residents of the home are eligible for burial at the cemetery, funerals such as Rine’s rarely take place at SAHNC — which, along with Arlington National Cemetery, is one of two national cemeteries maintained by the Department of the Army.

Rine, a native of San Antonio, Texas, joined the Navy in 1964 and served aboard the USS Carronade, an inshore fire support ship, providing cannon and rocket fire for amphibious operations along South Vietnam’s Mekong River. Rine’s primary duty was to serve as the ship captain’s personal phone talker, coordinating fire between the captain and spotter planes or soldiers on the beach. He also manned a .50-caliber machine gun when needed.

Fighting raged up and down the river as U.S. forces tried to drive out the Vietnamese communists (Viet Cong). To provide fire, Rine’s ship often had to approach dangerously close to the shore, sometimes taking enemy fire in return. “There was a lot of jungle,” Rine recalled to his daughter, Carol Crane, in a 2015 interview for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. “You would see a lot of fires over in villages that had been blown up. It was stressful.”

Rine served five six-month tours in Vietnam between 1965 and 1968. He remained in the Navy after the war, serving for a total of 21 years. When Crane asked her father (during the 2015 interview) to summarize how he felt about the Navy, he responded, simply, “I loved it.”

After his time in the Navy, Rine worked for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., before retiring to Louisiana. He later returned to D.C. and lived with Crane until he moved into the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home. “He loved it there and made friends,” she remembered. Rine chose to make SAHNC his final resting place because “he knew the history of the place,” Crane said. “Before he moved here, we visited the Lincoln Cottage with him. He really loved history.”

Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery, like Arlington National Cemetery, originated during the Civil War. In July 1861, six acres of the U.S. Military Asylum, near President Abraham Lincoln’s private cottage, were dedicated as a burial ground for soldiers and officers. Today, SAHNC is the final resting place of more than 14,000 veterans, including 21 recipients of theMedal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration.

After a career of service to his country, Rine was laid to rest in Section Q of SAHNC. U.S. Navy Chaplain (Lt. Cmdr.) Ian McCarthy told Rine’s family that he would be remembered not only for his military service, but also as “a father, brother, shipmate, grandfather and husband” who “served his country honorably.”

Crane said that the service, which included an honor guard folding her father’s flag, a firing team firing three volleys and a bugler sounding Taps, helped her heal. His resting place at SAHNC, she added, ensured that he would remain “surrounded in history.”