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Looking for something to do? Would you like to be a part of a great team and help us locate our Unclaimed Veterans/Spouses/children? Select the Volunteer Button at the top of this page and fill out the form. You will be contacted by our Training Officer, who will assist you as you begin your efforts.
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Flag Presentation
Final Salute
Helping Provide The Closure Our Veterans Deserve
Never Forgotten
Photo Update: Please review the In Memory section found under the Chaplains tab. We have added photos for our Fallen Volunteers.
Our Progress to Date
2,469
Funeral Homes Visited
24,717
Cremains Found
5,293
Veterans Cremains Identified
4,783
Veterans Interred
Missing In America Project
Why We're Here
The purpose of the MIA Project is to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans through the joint efforts of private, state and federal organizations. To provide honor and respect to those who have served this country by securing a final resting place for these forgotten heroes.
The Missing in America Veterans Recovery Program (MIAP) (EIN: 20-8408832) is a Federal recognized Non-Profit Veterans Organization for the identification, location, verification, and movement of Veterans and their Dependents.
Working Together to Accomplish Our Goals
The initial focus of the MIA Project will be a massive, nation-wide effort to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed remains of forgotten veterans. This task will be executed through the combined, cooperative efforts of members of the American Legion, other volunteer service and veteran organizations, local Funeral Homes, State Funeral Commissions, State and National Veterans Administration Agencies, and the State and National Veterans Cemetery Administrations. Local, state and national laws must be followed in the identification, claiming process and proper interment of the unclaimed remains of forgotten veterans.
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VA National Cemeteries Resume Committal and Memorial Services Halted by COVID-19 Pandemic
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) national cemeteries will resume committal services starting June 9 in all but two VA national cemeteries.
VA national cemeteries will contact families who were unable to hold a committal service due to the COVID-19 pandemic to arrange memorial services for their loved ones beginning in July.
Families with interments scheduled on or after June 9 will be offered the option of a committal service at the time of interment. At Calverton and Long Island national cemeteries in New York, that option will be available starting June 22 provided state and local guidance permit.
To schedule committal services, please contact the National Cemetery Scheduling Office beginning June 6 at (800) 535-1117.
For more information, visit the NCA’s website, https://wwww.cem.va.gov To make burial arrangements at any VA national cemetery, call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at (800) 535-1117.
Thank you for your cooperation,
The National Cemetery Administration
BE SURE TO GO TO THE LINK ABOVE FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE.
Veteran Recovery Program
You served your country through a war, or through peacetime. You expected to receive a military burial, recognition by our government of your commitment to our great country. You expected to have honor and respect paid to you as a result of your service to our great country. Instead, you reside on a shelf in a mortuary or a storage facility at a crematorium.
The mission of the MIAP project is to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremains of veterans through the joint efforts of private, state and federal organizations. These forgotten veterans have served our country and, as such, deserve to be buried with honor and respect. The impetus for our fine program began in November 2006. The Idaho State Veterans cemetery interred 21 cremains of forgotten veterans, with full military honors and the dignity these fallen heroes so richly deserved. Recently, a state hospital announced that 3500 cremains were on shelves to be identified. On the shelf were cremains for the time span of the 1890s to 1971. It is estimated 1,000 of these cremains are veterans. This is happening in every state.
This project has just begun. We need to blanket every mortuary and cemetery in the United States and let them know there are people who desire to claim our veterans. We need to let them know it is our desire to see they are interred with the honor and respect they deserve. They served our great nation. It is now our great nation’s turn to serve them.
The veterans languishing on shelves need us. They need America to step forward and ensure they are buried with honor. They need America to show their thanks for their service. Without them, we would not have the freedoms we enjoy today.
PAGE UPDATED 8/26/19
