You may find this hard to believe but it is a sad fact. And it is likely that you can make a difference. Really, you may be able to do something good by learning about this project right where you are. And you can share this information as a point of information with everyone you know. No kidding. Just put on your thinking cap and see what happens.
Missing in America Project (MIAP) has to do with unclaimed, forgotten, cremated remains, (called cremains) of veterans. Veterans are silently occupying selves of mortuaries, State hospitals, even individual homes of family and friends, et al; Recently I had the occasion of becoming associated with the founder of this honorable movement. A Vietnam veteran himself; Fred Salanti became involved with conducting monthly services at regional and state cemeteries for veterans with no family and no money.
This is when he stumbled across the unrecognized need to bury indigent and forgotten veterans, whose cremains have languished on shelves of funeral homes, mortuaries and state hospitals across the entire United States for decades. Their stories have begun to emerge from the shadows of society's forgetfulness. MIAP and the American Legion have become partners to meet the needs of this project to see that our veterans are honored and given a final resting place.
The MIAP guidelines call for assisting funeral homes with researching all cremains in their possession to find veterans, submitting the cremains’s records to the Veterans Administration Cemetery System for screening for eligibility for burial and notifying funeral homes of cremains eligible for burial.
This story of the MIAP is worth your time, as virtually everyone has or had a family member or relative in uniform at one time or another. As families die off, despite all good intentions, cremains of veterans are forgotten, lost, misplaced, etc. Unbelievably, sadly, it does happen, often.
After you put on your thinking cap and come up with any idea of any possibility of someone you know possessing cremains of a veteran, please offer him or her, or your local mortuary, this information.
Your concern for lost veterans that have served our country would be invaluable in leading to their burial with honor and respect.
If you, or anyone you know would like to become involved with the local MIAP effort (nearest you), contact Fred Salanti via email at ducpho@miap.us
Thank you for visiting. - Bob Eph 4:32 and 5: 1-17
