Call Kurtis: Veteran's Ashes Abandoned In Locker

Inside a shiny air force urn are the remains of Chief Master Sergeant James Gerald Leach who died in 1997.

His ashes were abandoned inside a Citrus Heights storage locker.

Whoever rented the unit stopped paying the bill. Manager Jerry Petersen made the discovery.

"I saw a veteran, and it touched me," he said as a tear streamed down his face. "He needed to be taken care of."

A veteran himself, he can't quite make sense of how this could happen.

"You don't leave a fellow service member behind," he said.

After spending a stressful year unable to locate the family, he found Non-Profit Group, Missing in America Project.

"They deserve a proper burial," says member Terry Owens of Los Molinos.

The team of veterans rides their motorcycles across the region, even across the country claiming the remains of their forgotten brothers and sisters.

"I think it's the right thing to do," says Jack Jackson who rode down from Paradise. "I'm a veteran and I certainly would not want to be on a shelf."

It's a huge job. Our Call Kurtis Investigation in 2007 revealed thousands of veterans' remains have been abandoned. Some have no family; some were simply forgotten only to end up warehoused in the back rooms of funeral homes, state hospitals and even storage units.

Three years ago we introduced you to Wes Nell of Sacramento. The veteran was upset the remains of his best friend, World War II veteran Norman Chester were shelved at the Sacramento Coroner's Office, and he couldn't do anything about it because he wasn't family.

It wasn't until we worked with the federal government; Wes' best friend of three decades got a military sendoff at the Veterans' Cemetery in Dixon.

Now there will be more funerals and more proper burials.

A State law just passed in August making it easier for groups like The Missing in America Project to bury the remains of forgotten veterans.

In the past three years, they've uncovered more than a thousand nationwide, properly interring the majority of them.

They'll soon add one more.

With veterans from the Missing in America Project standing in formation, they saluted the ashes of Chief Master Sergeant James Leach, carried by Petersen from the storage facility to the back of a motorcycle.

The Missing in America Project strapped the remains to the bike, and they rode off to a proper burial.

"My spirits are riding high right now because of it," Petersen said.

Leach will be laid to rest next month, at the Northern California Veterans' Cemetery outside Redding alongside other veterans.

He's forgotten no more.

"Tears are flowing because of pride," said Petersen.

The remains must be unclaimed for a year, before the Missing in America Project can inter them.

If family members later decide they want to claim their loved one's remains, the law allows them do so free of charge.

If you'd like to volunteer or donate to the Missing in America Project, here's a link to their website.  www.miap.us