Mar 6, 2009 5:47 pm US/Eastern
Abandoned WWII Vets' Remains Laid To Rest
WORCESTER (WBZ) ―
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The remains of two World War II veterans are laid to rest after spending decades in dark basements.
WBZ
The remains of two World War II veterans that were abandoned and left in dark closets and basements are finally getting the respect they deserve.
The injustice is being corrected following a WBZ I-Team investigation a few months ago that discovered
hundreds of our veterans have been left behind, gathering dust on the shelves of old hospitals and funeral homes across the country.
Since then, a volunteer group has been working to recover those remains.
The Missing in America Project, or MIAP, has successfully given two World War II veterans the send-off they deserve.
"We're finishing our commitment to them to give them the proper burial they deserve," said MIAP assistant state coordinator Sharon Bouchard.
After years of sitting on the shelf unclaimed in the basement of a Worcester funeral home, two of the nation's heroes, veterans of our country's wars, are finally given the honor and respect they deserve.
"To think they would be sitting on shelves, it's such unfinished business," said Bouchard.
The remains of Private 1st Class Edward Buckley and Seaman 1st Class Thomas Pellerin have sat on these shelves in Worcester for years. Now after a small, quiet ceremony with no family present they'll have a proper military sendoff and burial.
While the two veterans are being honored there could still be others in the basement of the same funeral home. There are 160 cremated remains on the shelves that are unclaimed.
"They deserve a proper burial. No-one deserves to end up on a shelf, whether it be by accident or for whatever reason, they're going home where they belong," said Don MacNeill, the New England coordinator for MIAP.
"Anytime we are able to identify a veteran and give them a proper funeral it feels good," Bouchard said. "They deserve it. It feels good, that's what it's all about."
One by one veterans are being brought home with full military honors. The MIAP believes it's a right at least 15,000 veterans have never received.
Edward Buckley will be buried at the National Cemetery in Bourne, and Thomas Pellerin will be laid to rest at the State Veteran's Cemetery in Winchendon.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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