America's Legacy Of Ashes
(KSDK) -- Recently, volunteers in Missouri and a handful of other states discovered the cremated remains of war veterans inside small canisters and cardboard boxes.
Instead of receiving their promised military burial, these war heroes have been forgotten and left on mortuary and hospital shelves for decades.
A national effort is underway to give these veterans a proper and dignified burial.
On a cold January day, Missouri's Patriot Guard would form its customary flag line and another veteran would be laid to rest with honor and respect.
But not all veterans receive that dignified ceremony. At Oregon State Hospital, an estimated 1,000 unclaimed cremains of veterans are neatly stacked like cans on a grocery store shelf.
A series of gut wrenching photographs, taken by Rob Finch, were first published in the Oregonian in 2005. The photos of cremains inspired people like Linda Smith of Dixon, Missouri, to take action.
Smith said, "I was furious..storing cans like that, that were rusty and dented."
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To get to the team that is taking action go
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