Associated Press (Monday May 17, 2010 8:32:01 EDT) DEARBORN, Mich. undefined They fought in conflicts from World War I through Vietnam, yet the remains of 26 servicemen sat unclaimed for years, seemingly forgotten by the country they served.
Now, thanks to a Dearborn veterans' group, they will finally be laid to rest with full military honors. On Memorial Day, a horse-drawn caisson will carry a flag-draped coffin with the soldiers' cremated remains down Michigan Avenue, beginning a ceremony that will end with a military burial in Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly.
"It's unbelievable that no one has taken their remains, no family or friends," said Joe Terry, commander of VFW Post 2107 in Dearborn. "The whole object of this is to show honor to our veterans, to show the city what being in the military is all about."
Terry worked for several months to match the names of the deceased veterans with military records, called DD-214 forms, to confirm the remains were eligible for burial in a national cemetery. Seventeen have been certified as eligible.
The 26 sets of ashes have been stored in cardboard boxes or plastic urns on funeral home shelves for up to 72 years.
The oldest of the remains, of a World War I veteran, date to 1938.
The unclaimed remains are mostly men, some of them indigent or homeless.
Neither Terry nor Richard Fleek, commander of the Dearborn Allied War Veterans' Council, which is coordinating the Memorial Day honors, would identify the veterans.
Shirley Foss Thompson of McFarland Foss Funeral Home in Dearborn identified 11 unclaimed veterans there.
One World War II veteran, Warren Pike, who died March 27, 1986, at age 72, will be buried on Memorial Day with his wife, Virginia. Their remains were never claimed, Thompson said.
Of the 40 unclaimed remains stored in a cupboard at McFarland Foss, 11 are veterans, she said. The oldest dates to 1978; the most recent veteran died in April 2007.
At Dearborn's Howe Peterson Funeral Home, one World War I sergeant's remains have been stored since April 8, 1947, when he died at age 50, funeral director Jeff Lamparski said. He declined to release the name of the soldier.
The funeral home sends letters annually to the last known address of the next of kin for about 60 cremated remains being held in a special room for the unclaimed. Five are veterans.
Lamparski said the funeral home last tried to reach relatives of the World War I sergeant two years ago; the letter was returned address unknown.
Veterans groups were appalled when they learned about the unclaimed remains. The problem is not exclusive to Michigan.
The Missing in America Project has found the unclaimed remains of 6,642 veterans in 820 funeral homes nationwide. Nearly 700 have been identified and 632 of those interred, officials said.
Unclaimed veterans in the Detroit area could be in the thousands, Larry Root, the Michigan coordinator of the Missing in America Project, told city officials.
Thompson said some family members are just not ready to claim the remains of a loved one.
In one instance, a family member returned 10 years after a loved one died.
The family discovered at a Thanksgiving Day get-together that each thought the other had picked up the civilian's cremated remains, she said.
Others have been notified and made appointments with funeral directors to pick up remains, but never showed up.
The cost of burial is not a reason for the veterans to be left behind. Burial is free at a national cemetery for veterans and their spouses, Thompson said.
Terry said he had no idea that so many have been left behind in funeral homes without a proper burial.
"We're trying our best to rectify this and show how our veterans have been neglected," he said. "We will be showing how they should be honored."