The Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter is assisting in the interment of several veterans this week.

21 veterans and 2 spouses will be laid to rest at the cemetery as part of the Missing in America Project Friday afternoon.  The project was launched in 2007 and works to locate, identify and bury the unclaimed cremains of American veterans.

Iowa State Coordinator Bill Lauchlan says these veterans are from Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and California.  They all died in either Iowa or Nebraska over the years and were gathered in one location in Des Moines.

This is the latest group that has been found and identified here in Iowa but Lauchlan says there are still many more.  Most recently, MIAP had a large funeral in New York, where 62 veterans were intered at one time.

Lauchlan says the non-profit organization’s goal is to provide honor and respect to those who have served this county by security a final resting place for the forgotten heroes.

The ceremony will include full military honors and a dignified interment by the Military Honor Guard and cemetery staff.

This is the second time the cemetery assisted with the project, in 2009, 7 veterans were buried Iowa.