WAUKEE, Iowa — 13 unclaimed military veterans and one spouse will be given a burial with full honors in the Des Moines area on Saturday. It’s the eighth service put on by the non-profit organization The Final Salute. Founder and former funeral director Lanae Strovers doesn’t have bloodline ties to the military, but wanted to help when she realized the remains of former servicemembers were just laying around.
“It’s simply the right thing to do,” Strovers said. “…we found out they were in apartment buildings, storage units that had been abandoned, on the side of the road and kind of all different places.”
The group found a forever home for these people at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery near Van Meter. But before the remains get there, a service at Lutheran Church of Hope in Waukee will help share whatever details researchers could find out about them…