Dec 28, 2023 By Karen Mansfield 6 min read

On Wednesday, three Washington County veterans who served honorably in the U.S. military but whose remains went unclaimed after their deaths, were interred with full honors at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.

Dozens turned out on a rainy December day to pay their respects to brothers Aubrey and Louis Higginbotham, and Joseph Francis Calhoun.

“This means a whole lot,” said William Smith, the Higginbothams’ nephew, who was accompanied by his daughter, Chessy North. “I appreciate it so much that they’re doing this. I grew up with them, they raised me up. This is wonderful. I knew there was going to be something in their honor, but I didn’t realize the depth of all of this. It would mean a lot to them.”

The remains of Aubrey Higginbotham, a World War II veteran and member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces, went unclaimed for nearly three decades after his death in June 1995.

Louis Higginbotham, also a World War II veteran, passed away on Dec. 2, 1917. Calhoun, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1973 to 1977, died on Dec. 4, 2021, at the age of 65.

The burials were the culmination of a nearly nine-month project led by Miles Glotfelty, a U.S. Army veteran who is a former volunteer with the Missing in America Project, a national nonprofit group dedicated to finding, identifying and interring the remains of unclaimed service members.

Until Nov. 27, the cremated remains of all three veterans were interred in the Washington County crypt at Washington Cemetery under the custodial care of the Washington County Coroner’s Office, along with 112 other unclaimed people.

Glotfelty was shocked when he found out in March that the remains of Calhoun, who was a fellow member of the American Legion Post 175, had been unclaimed since he died and was laid to rest in the Washington Cemetery mausoleum known as the Four Seasons monument.

“It’s a wonderful day,” said a visibly moved Glotfelty. “I don’t really have words for it. It’s been nine months of struggles to get the right thing done, and that’s what matters. We brought family together, we brought the community together, and it’s been a good day.”

The remains of thousands of U.S. veterans go unclaimed at funeral homes and other locations around the country, according to a 2022 report by the Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

During Wednesday’s ceremony, family members and friends were presented with U.S. flags in honor of the veterans.

Dana Lee, a distant relative of the Higginbotham brothers who traveled from Virginia to attend the ceremony, and Smith, of Washington, accepted the flags for Aubrey, who served as an alderman for the city of Washington, and Louis, respectively.

Lou Snodgrass, a Korean War veteran and a friend of Calhoun’s, who first told Glotfelty their friend’s remains were unclaimed, accepted a flag in memory of Calhoun.

“We were good buddies. He was a man who took good care of me while I had COVID. I found out he wasn’t around, I wondered where he was, and my daughter found out he died and that he was in the morgue,” said Snodgrass. “He was a Marine. He was a nice man who helped me, and he was very considerate, but he had hard luck.”

Calhoun had lived in Philadelphia and returned to Washington to work at a battery company, where he repaired batteries, which earned him the nickname “Battery Joe.”

“He’d be thrilled. It’s a wonderful thing that he’s here,” said Snodgrass. “It’s a very nice place.”

Glotfelty worked with Washington County Commissioner and veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps Larry Maggi and Tim Marodi of the Thompson-Marodi Funeral Home Inc., in Bentleyville, to plan the services and burials. Glotfelty contacted the Cemetery of the Alleghenies to have the interments approved, and Marodi donated a hearse for transportation to the cemetery, obtained American flags for the ceremony, and purchased personalized urns for the remains.

“As a veteran and a county commissioner, we have these unclaimed veterans and they should be appropriately and properly buried in the National Cemetery, and we have citizens like Miles Glotfelty who got this started, and we were able to sort through some bureaucracy and find out who these veterans were,” said Maggi. “It means a lot. As you can see from the amount of people here, two days after Christmas, and to recognize these three veterans – two World War II veterans and a Vietnam War veteran – it means a lot. Southwestern Pennsylvania has one of the highest proportion of veteran population and they come out and honor veterans. I’m proud of Washington County, I’m proud of these veteran groups who made the time during this busy time of year to come out here on a damp, rainy day and honor these men.”

Three pairs of two-main military details representing the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and U.S. Marine Corps, took part in the service, which included a 21-gun salute.

The Patriot Guard Riders of Pennsylvania escorted the hearse on the nearly 40-minute drive from the Bentleyville funeral home.

The veterans’ remains will be interred in Section C6 of the cemetery, an in-ground cremation section.

“This is a true honor to honor these veterans,” said Ed Hajduk, director of Cemetery of the Alleghenies. “What’s amazing is that there are people out there like Miles who will go to these lengths to research and honor our veterans, and to make sure they are honored.”

For Lee, a genealogy buff who was contacted by Glotfelty after he found her on ancestry.com, the trip was fulfilling.

“I don’t have words for it. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. I’m certainly appreciative and honored and appreciative that this was done in their honor,” said Lee. “I’m certainly glad that I got to meet this new family. And I’m grateful to have the opportunity to stand up for veterans who stood up for us.”