By Chris Rotolo
“What do you do with the non-veterans?”
It’s a question U.S. Air Force veteran Richard Gough has had to answer far more often than he’d like while investigating the basements and storage closets of funeral homes across the country.
Since 2014 Gough, a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America Shore Area Chapter 12 in New Jersey, has dedicated himself to sifting through forgotten urns and abandoned boxes of cremated remains.
More commonly referred to as “cremains,” Gough has researched, identified and helped provide a military burial for more than 100 veterans and spouses of veterans. His efforts have even facilitated the return of 27 cremated veterans to their families.
“We’re currently working on (providing burial) for more than 200 more cremains we’ve located and identified,” said Gough, who feels a sense of pride for his work, but also an accompanying tinge of heartache.
“Early on when we first began taking inventory of funeral homes, it brought to the forefront the realization that there’s so many unclaimed cremains, for so many different reasons. And they’re not all veterans. That was evident when we started finding the very light urns, maybe four inches tall. It hits you. We just found a baby,” Gough added. “And unfortunately, when you find a non-veteran, there’s nothing we can do for them. So they have to stay behind.”
Gough and his team’s efforts are the subject of a new feature-length film titled “Chasing the Dead,” a tale of New Jersey veterans working to uncover, separate and honor the cremains of their forgotten servicemen and women. The film, which was funded entirely by veterans’ groups, premiered publicly April 9 and has racked up recognition at 17 of the 20 film festivals in which it’s been entered.
According to the film’s director Tom Phillips, forgotten cremains are not just a local, state or even national issue, but a global phenomenon with an estimated 50,000 abandoned cremated human remains across the United States, and upward of 6 million worldwide.
Gough said his research and statistics collected by the Missing in America Project, a California-based nonprofit organization, approximates that 20 percent of those forgotten cremains are military veterans.
“During the making of this film, we’ve found cremains dumped in intersections, stuffed in the backs of closets, and even locked in the trunks of cars. And I think our goal with this film, and through David’s work, is to raise awareness in a way that elevates the human element. You have someone in a box. I think it’s easy to forget that there’s a person – and a life – in there. A cremated person is still a person,” said Phillips, who has volunteered with the Vietnam Veterans of America Shore Area Chapter 12 for the last five years.
Gough said he hopes “Chasing the Dead” can help generate awareness about forgotten cremains and help those families remain mindful when the time comes to honor their relatives, but he expressed skepticism about the possibility of hearing about any potential success stories.
“I think, in some cases, there’s a lot of guilt associated with reclaiming the cremains of a family member, but that’s not why we do what we do. We’re not interested in distributing blame. We understand that life happens, and it happens fast, especially when you’re handling funeral arrangements. There are so many different reasons why cremains could be left behind. Every family has their own story. But the story isn’t necessarily important to us. We’re just here to help, and to create awareness,” Gough said.
Phillips said the rising cost of funeral services may only exacerbate the global issues of forgotten cremains.
“Public awareness is the answer, because we’re all just trying to live and survive, and sometimes things are overlooked. Even family remains. Our goal is to inspire as many as we can to come forward and do what they know in their hearts is right,” Phillips said.
Phillips is currently in discussions with distributors for a wider future release of “Chasing
the Dead.”
This article originally appeared in the April 22 – 27, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
