Veteran’s urn found in a dumpster, officials say
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ELKINS -- American Legion leaders are asking for the public's help in identifying a veteran whose cremated remains in an urn were found in a local dumpster.
During the Mountain State Forest Festival, in early October, a City of Elkins Sanitation Department worker found the urn -- and a photograph of a veteran in an Air Force uniform -- while collecting trash from dumpsters, officials said.
The sanitation worker noticed the urn and photograph in a dumpster near Gateway Apartments, just before the dumpster would have been emptied into the garbage truck. He brought the items to the H.W. Daniels Post 29 American Legion, hoping the rightful owner could be found.
"The city was collecting some trash and one of the workers saw the urn," Elkins American Legion Post 29 Commander John Miller told The Inter-Mountain Monday. "They picked it up along with the photo and brought it down to our headquarters. Now we are trying to find out who it is, because there's no name on it or anything."
Miller said he can tell from the photograph that the service member was in the Air Force, but other than that officials have nothing else to go on to help identify the veteran.
"We'd like to find out who this service member is so that we could do a proper burial of the urn at the Little Arlington Cemetery," Miller said. "We have never had anything like this brought to us before."
Miller added that he and other American Legion members were upset that the urn had been thrown away into a dumpster.
"To just throw the urn of a veteran's ashes in a dumpster, is just totally uncalled for," Miller said. "To be thrown away, to be hauled out to a landfill, just kind of upsets us. To just throw it away like it's nothing, it really bothers us as veterans.
"If this was a house that was being cleaned out, whoever found it should have tried to find the proper people to give it to or a family member. Throwing it away was just totally uncalled for."
Anyone with information about the service member is asked to call Miller at 304-614-6885, Donnie Lambert at 304-621-0483, or Mike Cardinal at 304-614-6338.
Post 29 will be hosting several events during Veterans Day weekend next month.
On Friday, Nov. 10, Post 29 will present a veteran's parade in downtown Elkins. Those wishing to participate in the event are asked to contact Post 29.
On Veteran's Day, which will be Saturday, Nov. 11, a ceremony will be offered at the All Veteran's Memorial on Railroad Avenue in Elkins. A Veteran's Day dinner will take place at Post 29 the same evening.