Hugh Bell, member of the Honor Guard, carry the cremated remains of Anthony Bittenbender on Thursday, June 30, 2022, during funeral services for veterans who died with no family with the capability of burying them that was held at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Newtown. (Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call)

Anthony Fermamento’s death was unremarkable.

He died of natural causes on March 4, 2021, at a nursing home in the Quakertown area. He was 63.

Usually, the authorities wouldn’t take notice of such a passing. But when no family stepped forward to claim his body, Fermamento became a case number at the Bucks County Coroner’s Office.

For about a year, Fermamento’s resting place was the county morgue, while officials searched for relatives. They could not find any willing to handle his final arrangements.

In their research, the coroner’s staff discovered something else, though, something significant.

Fermamento was a veteran. He served his country during two tours of duty between 1975 and 1979, leaving the Army as a Specialist 4.

That called for a funeral service that was remarkable.

On April 21, his cremains were laid to rest with military honors at Washington Crossing National Cemetery. Three other Bucks County veterans who also were unclaimed after death were honored that day, too. All gingerly were placed in the cemetery’s stately columbarium and given the final salute they earned.

Unfortunately, not all veterans who pass away alone receive such recognition. Some are buried without their service being known. The cremains of others lay in morgues and funeral homes for years.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is required, by law, to ensure deceased veterans without a next of kin received “dignified burials.” An investigation last year concluded the VA wasn’t meeting that obligation.

The agency’s inspector general identified multiple instances of individuals who may have been veterans who were interred in mass paupers’ graves. The inspector general said proper interments of some veterans in national cemeteries were delayed as long as 44 years.

The Bucks County coroner’s office makes sure deceased veterans entrusted to its care receive their final recognition, even it takes time.

Regular burial services are held at Washington Crossing National Cemetery, near Newtown. I attended the most recent one, on June 30, for nine veterans from Bucks and Montgomery counties and Philadelphia.

While their deaths were “unattended,” their burials were not.

Veterans and other members of the public attend the burial service for unclaimed veterans held June 30 at Washington Crossing National Cemetery. (Paul Muschick / The Morning Call)

About 60 people turned out on a steamy afternoon to pay their respects.

The Patriot Guard Riders led the procession to an outdoor pavilion for a brief service.

Many of those in the crowd were veterans who proudly wore caps, shirts and pins indicating their service, from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf. Some saluted, stood at attention or held their hand over their heart as taps was played.

One older man stood out, as he carried a portable oxygen tank and had difficulty walking. His dedication to attend despite his ailments was inspiring.

Their attendance was acknowledged at the start of the service by Steven Wagner, program support assistant for the cemetery.

“This short, yet meaningful ceremony will ensure those who served and sacrificed are honored for their service to this great nation. Your presence here today continues to reinforce our commitment that no veteran should take this final journey alone,” Wagner said.

Peter Gregory, a retired Navy commander and military chaplain, eulogized the nine. He recognized them as heroes and patriots and for serving with “duty, honor, courage and commitment.”

“We didn’t know them on a personal level, yet we count them brother and sister, Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen, in that long line of patriots that have gone before,” Gregory said.

“Once a veteran, always a veteran,” he said.

Then the Guardians of the National Cemetery honor guard placed their cremains in the columbarium.

Hugh Bell, member of the Guardians of the National Cemetery honor guard, carries the cremated remains of Anthony Bittenbender on Thursday, June 30, 2022, during funeral services for veterans who died with no family with the capability of burying them. It was held at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Newtown. (Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call)

For some of those laid to rest that day, their journey to get there was long. Three of the four veterans from Bucks County died in 2018.

Louis Filosi, 92, of Bristol Township, was a Navy seaman first class during the World War II era.

Larry Hopkins, 63, of Warwick Township, was a Navy airman apprentice.

John Nace, 83, of Lower Southampton Township, was an Army corporal.

Honored with them was Anthony Bittenbender, 72, of Bristol Township, who died in December. He was a sergeant in the Air Force.

The others buried that day were from Montgomery County and Philadelphia: Hasford Altman, a Navy Seaman second class; Eugene Johnson, a Marine private first class; Willie Schill, an Army private first class; Frank Bruno, an Army technician fifth grade; and Charles Cook, a Marine private first class.

It’s not always apparent when someone who passes and is unclaimed is a veteran, Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck told me. While some have their status marked on their driver’s license, some don’t. Nursing home records often don’t include any mention of it, either.

“Veterans are very unassuming and don’t like to brag about it,” Buck said.

“Some have stories, some don’t,” she said. “We don’t tend to know a whole lot about their military service.”

She told me that when she became coroner in January 2020, Bucks County had a backlog of more than 200 unattended deaths, not all of them veterans, that needed to be closed.

Closing cases to make way for burial is a painstaking process. Staff research public records. They talk with nursing homes. Sometimes, they find family members but their age, health and distance preclude them from handling final arrangements.

Staff located the 96-year-old mother of a veteran in New England. She had dementia. The coroner’s office sent her the flag from her son’s service.

Other times, relatives are not interested in handling the arrangements, for various reasons.

Eventually, after exhausting all leads, the coroner’s office has the deceased cremated and laid to rest. For those who are veterans, they are taken to the national veterans cemetery.

Lehigh County follows a similar process. It buries unclaimed veterans with military honors at the national cemetery at Fort Indiantown Gap.

“It’s my duty to make sure that we give them the burial they deserve,” Coroner Daniel A. Buglio told me.

He said there are perhaps three to six of them a year. Burials usually occur within a month of death, Buglio said.

The office doesn’t publicize its efforts, but may begin doing so, he said. It also may begin looking for options to inter veterans closer to their home in the Lehigh Valley, perhaps by creating an area for veterans at the Cedar Heights cemetery, where other unclaimed persons are buried.

In 2012, Congress passed the Dignified Burial and Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act, to ensure veterans who die without next of kin are laid to rest appropriately.

The law was sparked by the appalling discovery that a World War II veteran was buried in a cardboard box in a Florida national cemetery. The veteran’s remains became unearthed during maintenance to raise and realign headstones.

At the time, veterans who were buried without family were not guaranteed a VA-provided casket or urn.

The law now requires the VA to pay for a burial plot and headstone in private cemeteries or a national or state veterans cemetery; funeral home services; transportation; and a casket or urn.

There is a procedure for funeral homes, coroners and others to obtain funding.

But six years after the law passed, some funeral directors still were unaware that funding was available to bury unclaimed veterans, and that likely was keeping some from being laid to rest, the VA said in a report to Congress in 2018.

That report estimated that the remains of between 11,506 and 33,560 unclaimed veterans had yet to be buried, with their cremains stored at funeral homes.

Data show that more military burials have been occurring since the law was passed. The number of unclaimed veterans interred at national veterans cemeteries increased steadily, from 1,225 in 2015 to 1,752 in 2020, according to a report the VA made to Congress last year.

The inspector general’s report from last year, though, says more must be done.

It says the VA hadn’t effectively coordinated with the likely custodians — such as funeral directors and coroners — of the remains of unclaimed veterans. In addition to providing funding, it is supposed to provide guidance about how inquiries can be made to determine if someone served.

The VA also didn’t coordinate with other agencies or organizations, such as a national database of missing and unidentified persons that contained information about unclaimed veterans.

The database contained more than 400 potentially eligible deceased veterans whose remains were unclaimed and in the custody of law enforcement agencies, coroners or medical examiners, according to the inspector general’s report.

Members of the National Guard fold an American flag Thursday, June 30, 2022, during funeral services for veterans who died with no family with the capability of burying them that was held at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Newtown. (Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call)

The VA concurred with recommendations to beef up its system.

In its written response to the inspector general, the VA said it “believes that every veteran deserves a dignified burial.” It said it would work to ensure deceased veterans “are cared for in recognition of their service to a grateful nation.”

They aren’t just veterans.

They were someone’s son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, father or mother. But when their time was up, there was no one to accompany them to their grave.

It’s sad to see them buried with no family to bid them farewell. But it’s better to have them buried by strangers, with the honors they deserve, than for their service to be forgotten.

Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com