Unclaimed veteran's remains stored 11 months due to 'clerical error'

MADISON, Wis. - A veteran died at the Madison VA hospital, but his remains were left to deteriorate in a funeral home cooling system for nearly a year. It's a story that horrified the commander of the Wisconsin American Legion.

When Billy Ford died in November 2023, the VA declared him an "unclaimed veteran." What happened next raises questions about a system that's supposed to ensure all veterans are laid to rest with honor.

If service in life warrants dignity in death, what happened to Ford is anything but dignified.

Ford served in the United States Marines nearly 50 years ago and received an honorable discharge. A small gathering of his loved ones was there to witness his burial on Nov. 6, 2024, even though he died Nov. 28 – of 2023.

Did this for you

"Why wasn’t he buried right away?" asked FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn.

"Uh, the reason why I held on to him," replied Bryan Foster, "because I just had that gut feeling somebody was going to reach out to him."

Foster is a funeral director and owner of Foster's Funeral & Cremation Service in Madison. For nearly a year, he allowed Ford's uncremated remains to deteriorate in cold storage.

"I'm glad that we did," he said after a FOX6 investigation prompted Foster to finally schedule the long overdue interment.

"He did this for you," Polcyn said.

"That's a crock of s—," replied Nicole Ford, Billy Ford's daughter. "We’re almost a year past his passing and this is just now happening today?"

"Unbelievable," said Jim Johnson, Commander of the Wisconsin American Legion, which has its own unclaimed veterans task force.

"If that was my father sitting in a cooler for 11 months, not in his final resting place? I'd be horrified," he said. "That's not how you treat veterans."

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More than 22,000 veterans die throughout America's VA medical system every year. More than 300 of those veterans have no family available to take possession of their remains.

"These are people who served their country and, at some point over the years, they’ve just been forgotten?" asked Polcyn.

"They may have been forgotten," Johnson said. "Maybe the rest of the family is gone. They may have distanced themselves, because of their own struggles, from their family. But they still deserve a dignified burial."

Widespread failures

By law, they're supposed to get one. But in 2021, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General found widespread failures in benefits and services for deceased veterans, including inadequate processes for locating next of kin.

"And apparently nothing has changed," Ford said.

Billy Ford died of respiratory failure related to lung disease while in the care of the Madison VA medical system. When he passed, a spokesperson said they followed "standard procedures" for contacting next of kin, though they wouldn't say whom they contacted or why that individual was unable to claim the remains. The VA said it has a responsibility to the veteran's privacy, even after death.

Ultimately, the VA declared Ford an "unclaimed veteran."

"I was astounded at how I was not notified," Ford said. 

She lives in Milwaukee and said her name and contact information had been in the VA's system in the past, but no one contacted her.

"It's mindboggling that the federal VA system is handling quote unquote unclaimed veterans this way," she said.

Ford was there in 2011 when her father graduated with honors from Western Michigan University at the age of 51.

"I keep the picture right here in my living room," she said. "Because it’s just one of the best moments and proudest moments that I think of him."

But his struggles with mental health and substance abuse kept him at a distance.

"There would be long periods of time when we wouldn’t talk with each other."

How's your dad?

When her father died at the Madison VA in November 2023, she said no one in the family knew until more than four months later, on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024.

"'Hey how’s your dad, have you talked to him?'" she recalls a relative asking. "I’m like, ‘No, actually. I haven’t talked to him.’"

Nicole said she started searching online and found a death notice for Billy Ford, the same date of birth, in Madison, Wis.

"That was, like, gut-wrenching," she said.

The funeral home posting listed Billy Ford's final resting place as Rock Island National Cemetery in Rock Island, Illinois. Only, Ford wasn't buried at all.

"He was still in your funeral home," Polcyn said.

"I don’t know if that’s on the website," Foster replied. "Is that on the website?"

It was listed on the website as well as Ford's death certificate, filed Dec. 15, 2023.

"They say that's his final resting place," she said. 

But when Nicole Ford called the funeral home for directions to his graveside in April 2024, a staff member told her he hadn't been buried after all.

"'Actually, we just posted that last week,'" she recalled the staff member saying, "'because we just got approval from the cemetery to transport his body there.'"

Ford asked to come view her father's body, but the funeral home told her too much time had passed for a viewing due to the corpse's severe deterioration.

The long wait

Still, grateful her family could be present for the burial, she agreed to allow the funeral home to proceed with arrangements.

So she waited.

"Call back next Friday," she recalled them saying. "'We’ve got a lot of funerals. We’re really busy.'"

And waited.

"April goes by. May goes by," she said. "Now, we’re into June."

In July, the funeral home finally told her the reason for the hold up.

"'We're waiting for payment from the VA,'" she recalled the funeral home saying. "This is the first I'd ever heard of that."

The federal government reimburses funeral homes for burying unclaimed veterans, up to a total cost of $700. A spokesperson for the Madison VA then said an "unintended clerical error" delayed Ford's payment.

When the FOX6 Investigators called Foster on Oct. 23, he said he was "just waiting on the government to basically pay for the services." 

"Holding the body ransom until he gets paid?" Johnson pondered. "I don’t know. I hope not."

Since 2020, Foster has received 15 unclaimed veterans from the Madison VA, and he insists he takes good care of them.

After all, Bryan Foster is a veteran too.'

"It hurts me to sit back and see my brothers sitting in a cooling system," he said, "but I don’t mind them being with me, because I know I’m taking care of them."

"I think it’s despicable," Ford said.

Finally, a burial

After our phone call, Foster got on the phone to the National Cemetery Association and scheduled a military burial at Rock Island for Oct. 31. When Nicole Ford heard that from FOX6, she said her family would never be able to make it in from Michigan that quickly. She called the funeral home and said they told her the burial would go forward "with or without the family present."

Ford was furious.

"How dare you, after seven months of not doing anything, now the fire is under your feet, and you give me one business day to prepare to come to put my father to rest?" she said.

Instead, she drove to Madison and demanded to see her father's remains. Once again, the funeral home denied the request, citing the severely degraded condition of the remains.

Finally, with assistance from the Madison VA, the funeral was scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 6. Nicole Ford and a handful of her relatives from Michigan were there to say goodbye. The service included a full rifle detail, a bugler playing Taps, pallbearers in military uniforms and the presentation of the American flag to Nicole Ford.

"Today was a great day for the family," Foster said.

But it's what he said in an interview after the service that angered the family most. 

Gut feeling

"Well, I'm going to tell you," Foster said, "actually, it was nothing with the payment."

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When the FOX6 Investigators first called Foster, he said the VA's payment delay explained his burial delay. Now, Foster is changing his story. He said just didn't want to bury Billy Ford alone.

"I just had that gut feeling somebody was going to reach out to him," he said.

"He had a feeling," Polcyn repeated, prompting Nicole Ford to roll her eyes.

"Whew," she said, struggling to find the words.

Nevermind that family did come forward, seven months ago.

"And by the time you were reached out to," Foster said, "I was scheduling his burial."

"Full. Of. S—! Oh my gosh, that just, that infuriates me," she seethed.

But Ford isn't just upset with the funeral home.

"How many more clerical errors are there?" she said.

She's concerned the VA still hasn't fixed the problems identified in the Inspector General's 2021 report.

"There needs to be a change in the law, there needs to be oversight and there needs to be accountability," she said.

Bryan Foster said he's considering a change too, though probably not the one you'd expect.

"Let's hold the veterans a little bit longer!" he said.

That's right. The funeral director said after this experience, his takeaway was that he should hold the veteran's remains in storage longer.

How long?

"Do you think that a veteran’s body should sit in a funeral home cooling system for 11 months?" Polcyn asked.

"If a family member’s going to claim ‘em?" he said, "Why not?"

We deeply regret any distress

A spokesperson for the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans' Hospital in Madison declined to do an on-camera interview, but did provide FOX6 News with a written statement attributed to Abe Rabinowitz, Associate Director of the Madison VA Health Care System:

"VA cares deeply about the services it provides to Veterans, including ensuring Veterans receive dignified burials when they are laid to rest. In instances when Veterans pass and next of kin cannot be identified, VA works directly with local funeral homes to arrange for a final resting place to honor the Veteran’s service.

We greatly appreciate the important partnership with local funeral homes such as Foster’s Funeral and Cremation Service. In this case, an unintended clerical error by VA impacted our ability to pay for Mr. Ford’s funeral services. We are actively working with Mr. Foster to resolve this issue and ensure that the funeral home receives the payment they are due.

We deeply regret any distress these issues have caused Mr. Ford’s family. Interment is now scheduled for November 6 at Rock Island National Cemetery in Rock Island, IL."

Because of our investigation, the VA said it is now auditing its records to ensure all of those veterans have been buried with honor.

About ten years ago, the Wisconsin American Legion discovered the cremated remains of a Vietnam veteran named Terrence Sund sitting in a room, unclaimed, at a military cemetery. That led to a 2015 state law that requires funeral homes to either bury unclaimed veterans or turn over their cremated remains to the department of veterans affairs within 90 days.

However, the law specifically refers to cremated remains. Foster's funeral home did not cremate Billy Ford, so the law doesn't apply.

Legion Commander Jim Johnson said they may need to consider an update to that legislation in light of our investigation.