Funerals for Westmoreland County's unclaimed veterans moved to larger venue

Funeral services next month for 15 veterans whose remains sat unclaimed at the Westmore­land County Coroner’s Office will be relocated to Hempfield Park to accommodate a larger-than-­expected crowd.

Officials said there has been an “overwhelming response” from the community to attend the ceremony.

Coroner Tim Carson said Friday he expects as many as 200 people at the event, which will be at 9:30 a.m. July 15 in Hempfield Park.

“It’s very gratifying, and I just know we’re going to give them proper closure,” he said.

The larger site will allow the service to be moved inside the Hempfield Athletic Complex in case of inclement weather, Carson said.

Carson, who took office in January, announced last month that his staff identified 57 people whose unclaimed cremated remains have been stored at the coroner’s office in Hempfield, most recently on a cement floor in a closet. Some of the remains have been there for more than two decades.

After a tedious process to identify the remains, officials determined the group included 15 veterans, including two brothers, Clayton F. and William J. Moyer, who served in the Army during World War II. Clayton Moyer died in 1993, and his brother passed away two years later, according to the coroner’s office.

The coroner’s staff, along with officials with Pantalone Funeral Home in Greensburg, organized services to honor the veterans. The initial plan was to conduct the ceremony at Scottdale War Memorial, but it soon became clear that a larger site was needed.

“We’re going to do the right thing to give them the funeral they deserve,” said Kealey M. Smartnick, funeral director at Pantalone Funeral Home. “These 15 veterans at some point resided and died in Westmore­land County. It’s only right to give them a service where they lived.”

Smartnick said efforts to learn information about the veterans has been difficult. Officials were able to determine ages, military affiliations and years of service. Additional details of their service remain elusive, according to Smartnick and Carson.

“We really don’t know that much about that them. That’s really sad,” Smartnick said.

Still, officials were able to verify all 15 veterans were eligible for burial in the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, near Bridgeville in Washington County.

After next month’s funeral service, a motorcade consisting of state police, Westmoreland County Sheriff’s deputies and an estimated 60 motorcyclists will ride with the remains to the cemetery for a burial service at 1 p.m.