Veteran's History Project - Lowell D. "Dusty"

Lowell D. "Dusty"

Sergeant

U.S. Marine Corps

1951-'54

Editor's Note: This story is one of many American Veteran accounts published in The Sidney Sun-Telegraph. The writer, who is from Potter, is conducting the interviews as part of the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.

Lowell D., or "Dusty," was raised in Garland, Texas. He seemed to be a normal kid going through school. When he was 18 yrs old, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He was delivered to the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego in April 1951.

Like all who had gone before him, he trained hard and graduated a "Marine." This was during the "conflict" in Korea. By 1952, he was promoted to corporal and not long after, became a sergeant. He was in charge of supplies for a Marine Division.

Lowell served his three year commitment and was honorably discharged. He returned to the Garland, Texas area. He lived his life, having wives and children. Lowell passed away in 2004, a young man of 71 years. Following cremation, a nice memorial service was held for him. Afterward, all the families went their own separate ways. Dusty's ashes were given to one of the sons to have them properly buried.

In late 2012, a younger man was traveling through western Nebraska. He and an associate stopped at a local motel. Each of them had a car. They considered their situation ... too many vehicles, not enough cash ... so the minivan driven by the younger man was sold to a local car dealer (Darin Van Natter). After the deal was done, the selling party told the kind-hearted buyer that there were a few totes in the vehicle. He asked the buyer if he would keep them for thirty days.

The car buyer was kind enough to allow the request. After the time period was up and the seller didn't return to Sidney, the buyer looked through the totes to see if there might be more information than the car's previous owner had provided. For one thing, Darin needed to contact the seller and ask about picking up his property.

Darin found a wooden box in one of the totes. The wooden box was of oak. It was plain, nicely finished and solid. There was a name engraved in the top of the box. It was the name: Lowell with a date of birth and a date of death. Hmmm.

Darin contacted friends and discussed the situation. The guy who sold the vehicle appeared to have left the cremated remains of a relative behind ... dang. Darin and friends did some checking...

Name, date of birth ... not a lot to go on, but enough.

Referring the reader to the first part of this story, the ashes were those of a relative who was a Marine.

The internet is a powerful resource. Looking into military records, and cross referencing. What was known as well as what was unknown? Other written documents pointed researchers to obituaries in Texas.

Learning as much of the person's past as was available, the situation was handed off to the people in Nebraska with the Missing in America Project. This organization makes contact with funeral homes across the State and tries to recover cremated remains of veterans that have gone unclaimed. This would sorta fit into their framework. Mr. Henry, the volunteer for this organization, was very easy to work with. Notes were compared and assignments made.

"Dusty" had several sons ... five of them. The first two couldn't be found right away. One in California said that there had been a nice memorial service and thought his father's remains were buried in Texas. Another son told the interviewer that the remains were those of a family pet – a dog – that's the way they did things like this in Texas. The interviewer asked if he had a phone number of the brother who was supposed to have taken care of the matter? "He will call you..."

In a couple of hours, the youngest of "Dusty's" sons called. The first thing he said: "ummm, those aren't animal bones" then went on to say he had made mistakes, etc.

Those with Missing in America Project provide full military services and burial for the veteran. Mr. Henry set about getting the releases of all the family members – no easy task – so that Lowell could be buried with dignity, rather than being forgotten in a tote.

Good job, Darin! Your service to this family was invaluable!