In 2011, a lady died in Washington state.\u00a0 Her name was Shirley McNaughton.\u00a0 She was 57.<\/p>\n
Shirley McNaughton was a veteran.\u00a0 She’d served in the USAF for two years during the Vietnam War (1971-1973), and in the ANG for an additional two years thereafter.\u00a0 She was honorably discharged from the ANG as a Sergeant.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, at the time of death her surviving daughter had lost her job and did not have the money for a proper funeral.\u00a0 So Sgt. McNaughton’s remains were cremated (a local program funded that), then were placed in storage for a protracted period at the county coroner’s office.<\/p>\n
Enter the Missing In America Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n Per its website, the MIAP is organized to “to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans through the joint efforts of private, state and federal organizations.”\u00a0 They learned of Sgt. McNaughton’s yet-to-be-interred cremains, and arranged for them to receive a proper military funeral.<\/p>\n However, the MIAP this year selected a limited number of cremains to be interred in Arlington vice local state or national cemeteries.\u00a0 (It’s unclear if this is a one-time event or something that MIAP does periodically.)\u00a0 Sgt. McNaughton’s remains were among the 6 sets of such cremains selected for that honor – one from each of the 5 military services, plus the cremains of a US Army “Buffalo Soldier” who’d served during World War I.<\/p>\n Sgt. McNaughton’s cremains will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on 1 September 2015.\u00a0 Her surviving family is currently attempting to raise the funds to allow them to attend her funeral via a GoFundMe site.<\/p>\n I don’t know much about MIAP, so I can’t recommend or endorse them.\u00a0 But FWIW:\u00a0 MIAP does post their financials on their website (2014 IRS Form 990<\/a>).\u00a0 A quick look at that document leads me to believe they don’t seem to pay their corporate officers or waste a lot of money on fluff, either.\u00a0 And Guidestar <\/a>seems to think well of them also.<\/p>\n So if you have a few spare dollars that you plan to donate to charity anyway, it might be worth your while to investigate them further.\u00a0 They do appear to be approved to receive donations under the Combined Federal Campaign – though that in and of itself is no guarantee they’re particularly well-run (caveat emptor)<\/em>.\u00a0 And what they’re doing is certainly IMO worth supporting.<\/p>\n Everyone deserves a proper burial.\u00a0 It’s great to see an organization dedicated to trying to make that happen for the unclaimed cremains of veterans.<\/p>\n . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n (Material for this article was obtained from published reports – specifically, this article<\/a> and this article<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"