Nov 21, 2023 By Karen Mansfield 4 min read

U.S. Army veteran Miles Glotfelty has spent the past several months working to move the unclaimed remains of four veterans from Washington Cemetery to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies for military burial.

A plan to have the remains of four unclaimed U.S. veterans removed from Washington Cemetery and interred at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies with full military honors has found its way to Washington County Court.

Washington County President Judge Richard F. DiSalle issued a court order on Nov. 15 requesting the remains of the four veterans be disinterred from a mausoleum for unclaimed remains at Washington Cemetery and reinterred at the national cemetery.

The veterans are Aubrey and Louis Higginbotham, Robert Campbell Jr., and Joseph Calhoun, all of Washington County.

The Higginbotham brothers were World War II veterans, and Aubrey was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Campbell served in the U.S. Army, and Calhoun served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

In October, Washington County Commissioners Larry Maggi and Diana Irey Vaughan sent the Washington County Coroner’s Office a letter requesting that the cremated remains of the four men be released to Miles Glotfelty, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Amwell Township who sought to have the veterans honorably buried in the Cemetery of the Alleghenies.

Washington County Coroner Tim Warco, however, said his office does not have the authority to release the unclaimed remains, which led to the commissioners filing the court petition to have those remains released.

“It’s frustrating. We keep getting roadblocks,” said Maggi, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. “Miles is a retired military man; his passion is to have these cremains given a military and honorable burial, and he’s done all of the legwork and the paperwork. We’re following the rule of law; it’s not going to cost the taxpayers any money. We have a funeral director who volunteered to take the remains from the cemetery to the Cemetery of the Alleghenies, we have military veterans’ groups who are going to do a ceremony, and the Cemetery of the Alleghenies is ready to accept them. These are veterans who have been forgotten by family and friends, and Miles is trying to get them a proper burial. Let’s get this done.”

Glotfelty’s quest to have the veterans’ remains moved began in March, when he found out that the remains of Calhoun – a friend and fellow member of American Legion Post 175 – had been unclaimed since he died in 2021 and were interred in Washington Cemetery’s Four Seasons mausoleum for unclaimed individuals.

Glotfelty, who at one time volunteered with Missing in America Project, a nonprofit that aims to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans, set about to find if other veterans were interred in the mausoleum and to provide a military burial for them.

So far, he has tracked down the four veterans, and is seeking to research the records of the remaining approximately 115 unclaimed remains to determine if there are other veterans.

“We’re only trying to do the right thing here,” said Glotfelty. “We should all work together to get these veterans in the right place.”

Ed Hajduk, director at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, said the national cemetery does not often receive unclaimed veterans remains, but when it does, it holds dignified burials for them.

“I’m just in awe of what Miles is doing to make sure all of our veterans are buried honorably. He didn’t have to do this, and it has been a tremendous effort on his part,” said Hajduk. “Every veteran who served honorably is entitled to a final resting place at the cemetery as long as they meet the requirements, and it appears that these veterans do.”

Glotfelty has spent the last eight months confirming the men’s eligibility and coordinating all of the arrangements.

Glotfelty got in contact with Thompson-Marodi Funeral Home in Bentleyville, which is donating its services and will provide a hearse to transport the remains to the national cemetery.

The Cemetery of the Alleghenies has given the preliminary green light for the military services, but no date has yet been confirmed.

The Washington Cemetery did not return a phone call regarding the release of the remains.

Glotfelty said the cemetery referred him to its attorney, who is reviewing the court order.

“We’re not going to let this drop,” said Maggi. “We shouldn’t be making people jump through hoops to do the right thing here.”