CA Self Storage Manager Steps in to Bury Forgotten Veteran

Self storage manager Jerry Petersen was cleaning out an abandoned storage unit in Citrus Heights, California, when he found someone who should never have been forgotten. He found the ashes of Chief Master Sergeant James Gerald Leach, who died in 1997. The ashes had been left in unit 5001 of the Mini Stor facility on Auburn Boulevard in Citrus Heights. Petersen decided then and there that he had to make sure that Leach received a proper veterans burial.

“I saw a veteran, and it touched me,” Petersen told CBS News 13 in Sacramento on Friday. “He needed to be taken care of.” Petersen is a veteran himself. He served in the Army from 1977 to 1989. And he took finding Leach’s remains very personally. “You don’t leave a fellow service member behind,” he told CBS.

Petersen knew that the ashes were those of a veteran, because he saw that the urn was engraved with an Air Force symbol. He was appalled that Leach had never received an official veterans funeral.

Petersen spent a year trying to locate Leach’s family, but was unsuccessful. Finally, he learned about the Missing in America Project. The Missing in America Project is a nationwide organization that seeks to locate, identify, and provide a proper burial to the unclaimed remains of United States veterans. To accomplish this, the MIA Project works with local funeral homes and veterans organizations, state and national agencies dedicated to veterans, and the American Legion. Thus far, the MIA Project has found and interred the remains of 855 veterans.

Sadly, it is not unusual for a veteran’s remains to be forgotten about. Sometimes remains are found in hospital or funeral home back rooms, sometimes in homes, and occasionally in storage units.

Petersen arranged a funeral service with the MIA Project for Leach, and members of the organization arrived at the storage facility last Friday at 11:30 a.m., with five motorcycles, each flying an American flag. They parked in front of unit 5001. Then Petersen carried the golden urn out of the unit, placing it on the back seat of a waiting bike, so that Leach could begin his path to an honorable burial, 13 years after his death. He is to be interred at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery.

“Very emotional,” Petersen told The Sacramento Bee. “It’s something that I wanted to see done since I found him.”

Sources used:

Kawahara, Matt. “Mini Stor manager makes sure veteran gets a proper burial.” The Sacramento Bee. Oct. 16, 2010.

Ming, Kurtis. “Call Kurtis: veteran’s ashes abandoned in locker: storage facility manager makes sure he’s not forgotten.” CBS Channel 13, Sacramento. Oct. 15, 2010.

Mini Stor Auburn Blvd.

Missing in America Project.

“Remains of veteran recovered from storage unit.” The Sacramento Bee. Oct. 18, 2010.