Local U.S. Army veteran working to give a military burial to unclaimed remains of veterans
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
U.S. Army Air Force veteran Aubrey Higginbotham, who served during World War II, is honored at the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial at Sewickley Cemetery, where his name is inscribed on the Memorial Roll of Honor. After his death in 1995, nobody claimed Higginbotham’s remains. A Washington County veteran is aiming to have the remains of Higginbotham and three other veterans moved to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Washington High School graduate Aubrey Higginbotham, who served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, is listed on the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Roll of Honor in Sewickley Cemetery. Higginbotham’s remains, along with those of at least three other military veterans, are interred at a mausoleum at Washington Cemetery dedicated to those whose remains are unclaimed.
Courtesy Dana Lee
Aubrey Higginbotham of Washington, a World War II veteran who was a Tuskegee Airman serving in the U.S. Army Air Force. The photo is from the 1938 Washington High School yearbook. A local U.S. Army veteran is working to move Higginbotham’s unclaimed remains, along with remains of his brother, Louis, and two other veterans, to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
Aubrey and Louis Higginbotham, Robert Campbell Jr., and Joseph Calhoun were all Washington County residents who served in the U.S. military.
The Higginbotham brothers were World War II veterans – Aubrey was a Tuskegee Airman – while Campbell served in the U.S. Army and Calhoun served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
They share another thing in common: the remains of the four veterans, who died between 1995 and 2021, are interred along with 112 other unclaimed people in a mausoleum at Washington Cemetery.
Now, Miles Glotfelty, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Amwell Township, is determined to make sure the men receive a burial with full military honors at the Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Bridgeville.
For Glotfelty, having the veterans laid to rest in the national cemetery is something he believes he owes them for their service.
“We have the Soldier’s Creed, and it says to never leave a fallen comrade. To me, whether or not they died on a battlefield or they’re abandoned in a crypt, it’s still fulfilling that promise to get them to their honorable burial, and that’s what it’s about.”
Glotfelty’s quest began in March, when a friend of his who served in the Korean War and was a fellow member of the American Legion Post 175 mentioned that Calhoun’s remains had been unclaimed since he died in 2021 and was laid to rest in a Washington Cemetery mausoleum known as the Four Seasons monument.
“I was shocked. That got the ball rolling for me. The county coroner’s website has a page with names of unclaimed remains, and Joe’s name was on there. I thought, there are 100-plus names on that list, I wonder if there are others here because if there’s one veteran, there’s probably more,” said Glotfelty, a history buff.
He got to work checking names against genealogical websites, state archives and census records to try to determine if they had served in the U.S. military.
So far, his research has turned up the four veterans, who ended up in the mausoleum after no family members came forward to claim their remains.
Honorably discharged U.S. military members and spouses are eligible for free burial in a veterans’ cemetery.
Glotfelty is working to be granted permission to claim the abandoned cremated veterans’ ashes, and the Thompson-Marodi Funeral Home in Bentleyville has donated its services and is providing a hearse to transport the remains of the men to the national cemetery.
“I think it’s important for these veterans to be honored as they should have been at the time of their deaths,” said funeral director Tim Marodi.
The Cemetery of the Alleghenies has already approved the military burial for the men after Glotfelty proved their eligibility for a spot in the veteran’s cemetery by obtaining a copies of their DD214s, a document given to veterans at discharge.
Glotfelty has the support of Washington County Commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan and Larry Maggi.
Maggi, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a member of the American Legion Post #639 Honor Guard in Claysville, feels strongly about the importance of a military rites.
“These men bravely served our country, and we owe it to them to make sure they are buried with honors,” he said, adding that he was shocked that the body of Aubrey Higginbotham a member of the notorious Tuskegee Airmen was unclaimed. “One of my main priorities as a commissioner has always been to serve our veterans, so when Miles called, I immediately offered to help. It has been an honor to work with him and I commend him for his concern and dedication to the veteran cause.”
In October, the two commissioners sent the Washington County Coroner’s Office a letter that read, in part, “Glotfelty is working with the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies and has had each interment approved. Therefore, we are requesting that the cremated remains of these four men be released to Glotfelty, who is working with the Thompson-Marodi Funeral Home, to arrange the transportation of the remains to the cemetery for proper military services.”
Washington County Coroner Tim Warco said he is “cooperating within the guidelines of the law” to turn over the cremains.
The remains of thousands of U.S. veterans go unclaimed at funeral homes around the country, according to a 2022 report by the Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
This isn’t Glotfelty’s first effort to help provide veterans with dignified interments in national cemeteries. He once volunteered with the Missing in America Project, a nonprofit that works to identify and inter the cremated remains of unclaimed American veterans.
To date, the organization has found 30,888 cremated remains housed in mortuaries and cemeteries. Of those, 6,612 were veterans, and the nonprofit has honorably buried 6,256 of them.
Glotfelty, who served in Iraq, and his wife, Pamela, also a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, have served at about 500 funeral details as members of the U.S. Army Reserve.
Glotfelty credits Warco for providing a mausoleum for unclaimed remains – before the site was established in 2017, cremains were stored at the former Courthouse Square office – but he wants to make sure their final resting place is a cemetery for veterans.
“These are people who served their country, and they’re entitled to a military burial with full honors,” said Glotfelty.
Aubrey Higginbotham was the first veteran Glotfelty tracked down. The 1938 Washington High School graduate served in the U.S. Army Air Forces, and his name is listed on the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Roll of Honor in Sewickley Cemetery.
The memorial is the largest outdoor memorial of its kind in the country and commemorates the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, 100 of whom hail from Western Pennsylvania.
The airmen were the first unit of African-American pilots and support personnel who fought in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Corps. During the war, throughout much of the United States, Black servicemen were still subjected to Jim Crow laws, and the military was segregated.
Aubrey Higginbotham died in 1995, and his brother Louis, who served in the U.S. Army, passed away six years later, in 2001.
Glotfelty located two distant relatives, but there were no direct family members to accept the cremains of the brothers.
Campbell, of Amity, died in 2011.
Glotfelty said he’s “like a dog with a bone on this one,” and is working to overcome any challenges in order to make sure the deceased veterans are not forgotten.
“To get a guy who’s been forgotten and to give him the full honors he deserves, you can’t find that feeling anywhere else,” said Glotfelty. “It’s a labor of love.”
Note: If anyone is related to any of the four veterans and would like to be a part of the military interment, please contact Miles Glotfelty at milesglotfelty@icloud.com.