15 unclaimed veterans laid to rest with full military funeral

GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) - Fifteen veterans whose bodies went unclaimed after they died were laid to rest Friday.

In May, Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson said he discovered boxed cremated remains sitting in a room at the county's forensics facility. Carson said some of the remains had been in there since the early 1990s. 

As part of Operation Dignity, a memorial service at Hempfield Park honored the 15 unclaimed veterans, whose remains were placed in ornate urns. Their names were read aloud, and while no one in the crowd knew the soldiers and no one was related to them, people came from all over.

A public funeral procession with a multiagency escort then drove to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies for a full military funeral, with the public welcomed to attend. 

The remains of 42 other unclaimed civilians will be laid to rest at the county's Potters Field in a soon-to-be-constructed memorial.