Missing In America Project Provides Full Military Interment For Unclaimed Veterans' Cremated Remains

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A solemn crowd pays their respects to veterans and heroes who served this country.

Several hundred in attendance hear the names of the 24 men and one woman being interred at the Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth. What's unusual is that no one here has ever met any of the people they're honoring.

Kathy Church is the Florida State Coordinator for the Missing in America Project, a non-profit organization that locates the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans and provides full military interment services.

"This was a Call to Honor ceremony. We go to funeral homes, crematoriums, medical examiners offices, hospitals, national parks to locate, identify, and inter the unclaimed remains of veterans, spouses, and dependents. Here in Florida, this was our nineteenth. This brings us a little over 300 that we've interred for veterans," Church states.

This is an all-volunteer group and the work is underway in every state, identifying remains of veterans, who for various reasons, never received their proper burial.

"Going the furthest back, was a World War 1 veteran. Mostly, it's World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and a few Gulf war," she said.

All that is needed from the funeral home or medical examiner is the name and date of birth for the volunteers to determine veteran status and eligibility. Once they have that, as well as the branch of service confirmed, the group tries to find any family before the interment service. They publish an announcement in the local newspaper hoping someone will come forward, and now and again, they make a match.

"We had an 84-year old daughter and her 91-year old husband attend her father's service in Jacksonville. She was two when her father died and her mother never picked the cremains up and we had published the father's name in the newspaper and somebody saw it and called her," recalled Church.

Interments like this require donated urns, befitting a veteran. The South Florida Woodworking Guild handcrafts these beautiful, uniquely designed urns, at no cost to the Missing in America Project.

Dave Nelson and Stuart Muncer head the SFWG and this project. Muncer is a master at his craft, he has a garage full of every kind of saw and woodworking equipment. He dedicates his time and talent to this cause.

"It just felt like the right thing to do. There are folks who have given everything to our country, I wasn't one of those in the service, so this is my way of giving back," he said.

Nelson came up with the idea of using the Jefferson Memorial-like top piece for the design of the urn, stating "it's just so iconic, I just can't think of a better send off."

They begin with a simple piece of white oak wood and turn it into the final product. Each one takes an average of eight hours of very skilled labor.

The Missing in America Project stresses that having these urns donated is key to completing their mission. They would not be able to afford to provide all the urns, much less handcrafted pieces of art. Church said this is the least they could do.

"They wrote the blank check. You can talk to just about any veteran and they will tell you, 'I would do it all over again.' So, they definitely need to be honored, and the ones that have been forgotten on shelves, they get a little more special service, but I personally think that they deserve it for being unclaimed for so long," she said.

To learn more or to donate, go to Missing in America Project and South Florida Woodworking Guild.