Unclaimed remains of 11 Utah veterans honored with military ceremony


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BLUFFDALE — There is something about the sound of a bagpipe at a funeral that brings people to tears. However, at the Utah Veterans Memorial Park Saturday, the tears were happy ones.

Finally, after years of being forgotten, 11 military veterans were honored with te full military funeral they earned and deserved.

"These people are remembered. They're remembered for their service and what they have done,” said Kurt Falkner, executive director of the POW/MIA Awareness Organization of Utah.

Some of the veterans died six years ago; others died within the past two years. Most of them served in World War II, Vietnam or the Korean War.

For some reason or another, after these former soldiers died and were cremated, no family members or friends ever claimed their remains.

"It really is a heartbreaking thing,” Falkner said. “If nobody is there for them, then somebody has to step up and do it."

That's where The Missing In America Project (MAIP) comes in. It's an all-volunteer group that visits funeral homes, crematoriums and state hospitals looking for the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans, hoping to give them the honor they deserve.

“Many times this research takes months and years,” said Roger Graves, Utah coordinator for the MAIP. “But in my opinion, there is no excuse for this. I think if you lose a veteran overseas, and he's in a jungle and you can't find him, you can keep trying. These veterans are right here in our nation.”

Graves said there are roughly 3 million unclaimed cremated remains in the United States, and anywhere from 83,000 to 300,000 of them are forgotten veterans.

“These are estimated numbers because, honestly, we don’t know how many they are. We’re just taking a percentage of the overall population and those who served in the military," Graves said. "We have two funeral homes in Missouri that have 6,000 unclaimed urns. Somewhere in there, there are veterans."

Since MIAP was organized in 2006, the group has identified more than 2,300 veterans among 9,500 cremated remains across the country.

The 11 veterans recently found in Utah received a full military funeral, which included a 21-gun salute, a folded American flag and a bugler playing taps.

"It's sad, because these aren't just plastic boxes with ashes; these are real men and women (who) have a soul, and they deserve better than to sit in a closet,” Graves said.

The 11 veterans who given the full military funeral Saturday include:

  • Edward Gale (1927-2010), U.S. Marine Corps, PFC, 1945-1947; WWII
  • Russel Godfrey (1944-2006); U.S. Army, SP4, 1964-1967, Vietnam; in the U.S. Navy, SN, 1968-1970, Vietnam
  • Cecil Larry Hoyer (1942-2012), U.S. Navy, SR, 1960; peace time
  • David L. Lamb (1929-2007), U.S. Navy, S2C, 1946; WWII
  • Daniel Thomas Cosgrove (1947-2013), U.S. Air Force, SSGT, 1966-1970; Vietnam
  • Jack Kline Larsen (1951-2010) U.S. Navy, CA, 1970-1974; peace time
  • Forrest (Tree) Carl Aubrey (1962-2013), U.S. Army, PFC, 1981-1983; peace time
  • David Lee Hockett (1945-2013), U.S. Army, PVT, 1969-1971; Vietnam
  • Ronald Joseph Littleton (1940-2013), U.S. Army, PV2, 1958-1961; peace time
  • Robert John Place (1934-2013), U.S. Army, PVT-2, 1951-1954; Korea
  • Norman Floyd Shipley (1947-2013), U.S. Navy, SR, 1964-1968; Vietnam
The MIAP also identified 13 other military veterans at a mortuary in Utah, but the group hadn't been able to claim their remains as of Saturday. These 13 veterans are:

  • David Reubin Beveridge (1937-2000), U.S. Navy, SR, 1954-1955; Korea
  • Adrien Robert Boileau (1938-2003), U.S. Army, PV2, 1956-1958; peace time
  • Paul S. Bronson, Jr. (1923-1996), U.S. Army, SSGT, 1942-1945 and 1946-1948; WWII, Air Medal
  • Danny Rae Brownlee (1940-2002), U.S. Navy, SN, 1958-1961; peace time
  • Eugene C. Christensen (1920-2000), U.S. Army T SGT, 1939-1945; WWII
  • David Earl Conley (1942-2001), U.S. Army, SP4, 1964-1966; Vietnam
  • Louis William Dettling (1925-1999), U.S. Navy, S1C, 1944-1945; WWII
  • Jack Morris Hancock (1925-1976), U.S. Navy, MOMM3C, 1943-1945; WWII
  • Joseph William Hedgbeth (1927-1997), U.S. Army, PVT, 1946-1949; WWII
  • Ronald Jerome Lason (1938-2009), U.S. Navy, AN, 1957-1959; peace time
  • Melvin Moore (1938-2002), U.S. Navy, SN, 1960-1962; peace time
  • Robert Muir (1918-2000), U.S. Army, SFC (Ret.), 1939-1960; WWII and Korea
  • Larry Eugene Peterson (1939-2001), U.S. Air Force, A2C, 1957-1960; peace time. For more information on the Missing In America Project, visit www.miap.us.

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