Every American veteran deserves a proper burial when the time comes. Proper burial, for a veteran, includes military honors by a uniformed honor guard.
Unfortunately, the time has come and gone for more than 900 remains of previously cremated veterans from all branches of service in New Jersey. They are veterans whose remains have not been claimed by any family member or organization.
Through the efforts of Roman Niedwiedz, of Chapter 899 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, that neglect will change, according to a press release.
Niedwiedz composed a bill, New Jersey’s Mission of Honor, which Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law on Feb. 4, urging funeral directors, hospitals, prisons, etc., to contact their local veterans organization and to notify those organizations of remains in their possession.
The purpose of the Mission of Honor for cremains of American veterans is to locate, identify and inter their orphaned and abandoned cremains.
The task will be executed through the combined efforts of members of the New Jersey State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and other qualified veterans organizations throughout the state. The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs will assist in identifying the orphaned cremains along with interring the cremains at the Brigadier GeneralWilliam C. Doyle State Veterans Cemetery. The Veterans Administration will also be helping to determine the cremain status for interment.
“Our hope is to identify and inter every unclaimed veteran in New Jersey,” said Niedwiedz, “and we, along with our honor/color guard and with the assistance of funeral directors and various motorcycle clubs’ honor guards, deliver the cremains to our state cemetery with respect and honor for burial with the full honors of a hero.
“So many veterans have been forgotten,” said Niedwiedz, “and they can be found on mortuary shelves, hospital storage facilities, crematoriums and potters’ fields. Their remains are stored in cans or boxes with little or no identification, sometimes for many years.
“We are requesting that funeral directors, hospitals, crematoriums and prison administrators assist us in identifying their veteran cremains so that we can live up to our motto, ‘Never Again Will One Generation of VeteransAbandonAnother,’ ” he said.
Individuals who would like to make a donation to the project may mail it to New Jersey’s Mission of Honor for Cremains of American Veterans, P.O. Box 263, Bordentown, NJ 08505. The New Jersey Vietnam Veterans State Council is a registered not-forprofit corporation. For further information, visit www.njsmissionofhonor.org.