HELENA – A band of riders from the Patriot Guard will join members of the Missing in America Project when they inter two forgotten World War II veterans next month, laying the men to rest some 20 years after they were cremated and placed away on a mortuary shelf.
The group will also begin an earnest search for other veterans who were never claimed by family members after their death and have spent years resting in obscurity.
“To let a veteran who served his county, an America hero, sit on a shelf in a cardboard box is a crime,” said Marty Malone, state coordinator for the Missing in America Project. “I’m sure we’ll find more. When we do, we’ll give them the honors they deserve.”
The project works to locate, identify and verify the cremains – the cremated remains – of any veteran in a funeral home, state hospital or crematorium.
Started in Oregon in 1971, the effort quickly grew into a national drive. It will make its Montana debut this July when members of the project, joined by dozens of others, escort the cremains of the two men to the State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Harrison.
Malone could not identify the two veterans, though he did say one was a World War II Army veteran, the other an Air Force vet who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
“I’ve been trying to get this going for two years now in Montana,” Malone said. “We’ve known about the two veterans for a little over a year, but state law didn’t allow us to do anything.”
In Montana, cremains must sit for 20 years before they can be claimed by a veteran service. In this case, Malone said, the 20-year wait has expired, allowing an “approved” veteran service, such as the American Legion, to take possession of the ashes.
In the future, MIAP will work faster to claim the cremated remains, thanks to a $2 million legal fund to protect service groups from simple liabilities when taking ashes into custody.
“I should have done this a long time ago,” Malone said. “It’s something I’ve always felt very strongly about.”
MIAP has visited 648 funeral homes nationally and located the cremains of 6,642 veterans. More than 3,000 of those were found in one Oregon institution. Of the total found, 571 have been identified and 387 have been interred.
In Montana, the ashes of a Kalispell couple with a military background had sat on the shelves of Retz Funeral Home in Helena since 1960. Not until 2002 were the cremains properly interred at the cemetery.
“I had 76 sets of cremains in all,” said Randy Wilke of Retz Funeral Home. “I found family for all but 13 of them.”
Wilke said it is possible that other funeral homes in the state also are holding unclaimed ashes. In many cases, he said, one family member may believe that another family member has taken care of the burial, but has failed to do so.
They are often surprised, Wilke said, when he tracks down distant family members and tells them their great grandmother is still sitting on his shelf decades after her death.
“I think the Missing in America Project is well worth the effort,” Wilke said. “I think they’re (veterans) entitled to a dignified burial. It’s unfortunate when Uncle Harry was supposed to take care of it and Uncle Harry didn’t.”
Members of the Patriot Guard, the Christian Motorcycle Association, the American Legion and MIAP will escort the two containers of cremains from Ronan to Helena on the morning of July 10.
“We’re expecting riders from all over the state of Montana and surrounding states,” Malone said. “This is a historical event for Montana. We’ll have many more ceremonies like it in the future.”
Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at (406)-447-4086 or mkidston@helenair.com.
