Vermont ? In World War II, Samuel Mazur was a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber that flew over Europe.

Three decades later, he died of cancer – with no family at his side – at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Vermont. His cremated remains were sent to a funeral home, where they were placed on a shelf and forgotten.

“He had an interesting life,” said Euclid Farnham, who knew him. “He really did not have anyone.”

Until last week.

On Friday, Mazur got full military honors and was laid to rest along with three other forgotten veterans as part of the Missing in America Project, a volunteer organization that seeks to identify and honor the unclaimed remains of American veterans.

There was no family, but there were dozens of leather-clad, motorcycle-riding veterans at the Vermont Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, and a military honor guard.

“The recognition of their service transcends their death, and in places like this cemetery, we will continue to devote ourselves to their cause,” retired U.S. Army Col. Joseph Krawczyk said during the ceremony.

In two years, the group’s volunteers have visited 592 funeral homes, found 6,327 sets of unclaimed remains, identified 491 of them as belonging to veterans and buried 325, said Bruce Turner, the Vermont coordinator.