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Published On: Mon, May 26th, 2014

Unclaimed bodies of deceased Veterans left in morgue for over a year

In just shocking news from California, the bodies of 28 veterans at the L.A. County Morgue were finally moved for burial to the Riverside National Cemetery reports CBS Local.

U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III

U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III

The news agency claimed they pressed for details from the LA County Coroner’s Officer who claimed the former soldiers’ bodies were unclaimed and the morgue didn’t “know how long the veterans were there.”

News has shocked and outraged many citizens, some veterans themselves, who are furious that individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to America have not been given a proper burial.

Richard Burns, a Marine veteran, leads memorial services every Wednesday at the Riverside National Cemetery in honor of unclaimed veterans. Burns tells TPNN of this travesty, “I think it’s incomprehensible. It’s kinda sad that these people didn’t get the proper care that they deserve even after death.”

CBS added that as many as 60 vets have been at the morgue during the last year.

Some of the bodies were transported to the Riverside National Cemetery Friday afternoon and more could be moved as they are identified.

The law states veterans are supposed to receive a proper burial.

The Veterans Administration says they were never notified the bodies were processed and ready to be buried. A spokesperson for the LA County Morgue pointed the finger at the VA.

They wrote, “…there are about 60 decedents of probable veteran status that have awaited disposition for about a year as a result of a personnel change in the Veterans Affairs office and stringent identification/eligibility processes required by the VA.”

Cindy Van Bibber, a VA spokesperson said, “There’s personnel changes every day but that certainly doesn’t take away from the service that we provide any veteran.”

She says “at no point” did the City Morgue contact the VA and tell them about the bodies piling up there.

“We definitely weren’t contacted or we would have had a service for the veteran,” she added.

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About the Author

- Catherine "Kaye" Wonderhouse, a proud descendant of the Wunderhaus family is the Colorado Correspondent who will add more coverage, interviews and reports from this midwest area.

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  1. VA head Eric Shinseki and Press Secretary Jay Carney resign - The Global Dispatch says:

    […] Among the latest in the VA scandal is the news that deceased veterans’ bodies were left in the morque unclaimed for lengthy periods of time. More HERE […]

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