Jul 17, 2008 9:54 pm US/Pacific
Call Kurtis Investigation: Forgotten No More
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
Most of these veterans have no family. We exposed how their ashes ended up shelved, some for decades. Now we're going to show you what's happened since our initial investigation in November 2007.
Veterans Cemeteries are dignified places where veterans are guaranteed eternal rest. Those who faithfully fought to defend our freedom are promised a burial here.
"If you're a soldier and you want the honors of a soldier to die as a soldier, this is all you want" Veteran Fred Salanti told Kurtis.
Salanti is troubled to know thousands of veterans have been forgotten..
Their ashes have collected dust for decades; warehoused at funeral homes and state hospitals.
"A veteran writes a blank check in his life", Salanti said. "And he writes it to the government. Here's my life. There are people that went and fought, expected to be honored; expected our country to take care of them; expected to be buried as a hero, and they're sitting on shelves
Many of these veterans have no families. In the case of World War II and Korean War veteran Bob Chester of Sacramento, we learned his remains were sitting on the shelf at the
Sacramento County Coroners Office for five months
He had no next of kin. His best friend of three decades Wes Nell struggled to get him a military send off. Sitting in his living room, Nell had a request for Kurtis.
"If you could help me, get him and help me go to a proper burial, it would be the one thing i live for, i sure hope you can."
We worked with Veterans Affairs. Bob got that military sendoff in October, five months after his death.
He was buried with full military honors in October at the veterans cemetery in Dixon.
Now at rest beneath this grave-marker.
Salanti wants more outcomes like this one.
Two years ago, he created a national organization, called the Missing in America Project.
Kurtis asked Salanti, "What is the longest you know a veteran has sat on a shelf waiting for burial? Salanti replied, "1890s. World War I veterans. Some still on the shelves we're finding".
His group has volunteers in 44 states knocking on the doors of funeral homes and hospitals asking for remains. So they can have them buried.
Volunteers say it's an amazing feeling when they find a veteran.
"It may sound weird. But you say yeah. You hug, you cry. You feel like we got it done" Volunteer Bud Thieme told Kurtis sitting next to gravestones at a veterans cemetery.
But not everyone is willing to show what's in their back rooms.
One of the biggest finds of remains so far, at the Oregon State Hospital, where there are ashes of 3,600 people in tin cans.
The Missing in America Project wants a list of names to see how many belong to veterans.
The hospital says they can't release patient records and they don't have the staff to go through the remains themselves looking for veterans.
"We would literally need to go through all the records that we had and that's almost an impossibility to do", said Joni Detrant of the Oregon State Hospital.
There are possibly tens of thousands nationwide who have been forgotten.
The Missing in America Project has identified the ashes of 286 veterans nationally.
149-have been properly interred.
A cemetery was held in June at the veterans cemetery in Shasta County for 26 veterans. A dozen of them were found at a Red Bluff funeral home.
One service at a time, these veterans are finally home.
Walking through the cemetery, Salanti describes the feeling he gets when they are resting at a place where they can forever be remembered as heroes. "Peace. It's just peace. They're not abandoned. They're not on a dusty shelf".
The Missing in America Project is looking for volunteers and donations.
To find out how you can help, go to
WWW.MIAP.US.
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