[Vision2020] Idaho Buries 11 Servicemen

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (November 8, 2008) Spokesman Review -

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Idaho buries 11 servicemen 
Unclaimed remains found at Lewiston funeral home

BOISE – Eleven veterans from three branches of the military were laid to 
rest Friday at a state veterans cemetery, thanks to the efforts of a 
project that matches records of those who served their country with 
unclaimed remains in funeral homes.

In this case, the cremated remains of all 11 came from a single funeral 
home in Idaho. The veterans had served in three different wars. One of 
them, Sgt. James Overton, served in World War I and died Nov. 14, 1939.

"It's sad to think they were lost in some funeral home," said Sharon 
Bowman, a 57-year-old state employee with the Idaho Department of Health 
and Welfare in Nampa.

Bowman was among a small crowd that gathered at the Idaho State Veterans 
Cemetery to honor the veterans, who were identified through the Missing in 
America Project, a nonprofit organization that locates the unclaimed 
remains of veterans with assistance from state and federal agencies.

The unclaimed remains of 50 servicemembers have been found since 2005 in 
Idaho, where efforts at the state veterans cemetery inspired the creation 
of the nationwide Missing in America Project, Fred Salanti, a 60-year-old 
Vietnam veteran and director of the organization, said in a telephone 
interview.
 
Nationwide, the Missing in America Project has coordinators in 45 states 
who have identified the cremated remains of nearly 500 soldiers. About 350 
have been laid to rest in veterans cemeteries.

"We are their family," Salanti said. "We stand in and sign documents at 
the national cemeteries and the state cemeteries so they can receive those 
honors."

The 11 veterans honored in Boise were from Idaho, California and 
Washington state, said Zach Rodriguez, director of the Idaho State 
Veterans Cemetery. The servicemen have been identified as veterans from 
the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. They served in the Vietnam War, 
World War I and World War II.

The remains were identified earlier this year at a Lewiston funeral 
home. "Once they've been abandoned for more than a year, there's a state 
statute that allows us to go recover the remains," Rodriguez said.

Members of the Missing in America Project crosscheck data on U.S. 
servicemembers from a national data center with names and birthdates on 
unclaimed remains at funeral homes.

D.J. Stephens, a 51-year-old Marine veteran from eastern Idaho, said he 
didn't know any of the soldiers, but wanted to pay his respects at the 
cemetery Friday.

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Pro patria, 
 
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the 
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
 
-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.


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