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The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
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I was going to open this Veterans’ Day post by having readers ask themselves what meaning this Remembrance Day holds.
But before sitting at the computer to meet one of my many daily deadlines, I ventured a few blocks into the neighborhood to patronize a local convenience store.
On the way I passed a few shops where merchants were preparing to open their stores. One gentleman – perhaps mid-thirties – was changing the message on his signboard as I walked by.
After commenting on the crisp, fall Maryland morning, the sign-changer noted the lack of traffic on our usually busy thoroughfare.
“Is today a holiday or something?”
There went my opening paragraph - along with the symbolism of the post's title.
Thankfully, millions of Americans are aware that today is indeed a holiday - a day set-aside to honor those men and women who not only answered their nation’s call, but also paid the price with death, physical handicap and indelible mental scars.
And the citizens of this country should be even more grateful for those who set-aside more than just the single day to treat with reverence those who have worn an armed services uniform.
This past Friday, tail gunner Sam Mazur – who served on a B-17 bomber that flew missions over Europe – was laid to rest alongside three other World War II veterans thanks to the efforts of the Missing In America Project, a volunteer organization that seeks to identify and honor the unclaimed remains of American veterans.
Mazur died of cancer three decades after his military service. Since he had no family, the veteran’s remains were cremated and sent to a funeral home – where they have stayed in storage since the 1970’s.
It is the mission of the Missing In America Project to reclaim the potentially thousands of serviceperson remains thought to be in storage from coast-to-coast.
Frank Salanti, a Vietnam veteran from Redding, CA, founded MIAP when he discovered that the unclaimed remains of California veterans were being anonymously buried in the state’s many veteran cemeteries.
“Those of us who are Vietnam vets have something locked inside of us,” Salanti told the Associated Press, “And that makes us want to reach out and honor other veterans.”
In just two years, MIAP volunteers have visited nearly 600 funeral homes and found more than 6,300 sets of remains. Of those, 491 were identified as veterans and to date 325 of those have been interred - in most cases with full military honors.
Once found, the Department of Veterans Affairs verifies the remains, and as long as the deceased service personnel were honorably discharged they qualify for military burial.
If no family remains – as was the case with Sam Mazur – MIAP will arrange for a military honor guard to attend the service.
“The recognition of their service transcends their death,” retired U.S. Army Col. Joseph Krawczyk was quoted as saying during Mazur’s ceremony, “and we will continue to devote ourselves to their cause.”
Learn, volunteer and give generously to MIAP here.
Read the Associated Press story here.
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