The Veterans Honor Garden at Lutz Cemetery
The Veterans Honor Garden at Lutz Cemetery is a solemn and beautiful tribute to the men and women who served our nation with honor - but whose final resting place remained uncertain. As part of the Missing in America Project, this sacred garden will offer dignified interment for the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans from across the United States.
The American Legion Post 108 Honor Guard
Each veteran laid to rest in the Garden will receive full military honors provided by The American Legion Post 108 Honor Guard, ensuring that no one is buried without the recognition, gratitude, and ceremony they deserve. Throughout the year, Post 108 will host ceremonies and commemorative events in the garden. These events are open to the public to join us in reflection, remembrance, and honor.
Stand With Us - Fund the Veterans Honor Garden
There are many ways to support the Veterans Honor Garden. Benefactors will be the foundation of the Garden and will be recognized in the Garden for eternity. These funds will be allocated to the construction and perpetual care of the Veterans Honor Garden. Those who wish to sponsor a veteran for interment in the Garden can choose to do so as direct donations for this purpose. The third way to support the Veterans Honor Garden is through the Patriots Way Brick Fundraiser. Whichever level you are comfortable in helping, we are grateful.
Become a Garden Benefactor
Becoming a Veterans Honor Garden Benefactor is more than a generous gift - it is a lasting tribute to the men and women who served our country and were never properly laid to rest. With a sponsorship of $5,000, you play a direct role in giving unclaimed veterans the dignity and honor they earned through service. Every plaque placed, every flag raised, and every memorial built is made possible through the compassion of benefactors like you. Your support ensures that full military honors are rendered, native plantings flourish in peaceful reflection areas, and ceremonies continue to keep their memories alive.
As a Benefactor, your name - or the name of your organization or honoree - will be permanently engraved on a stone plaque placed within the garden. This public recognition stands as a visible symbol of your commitment to honoring those who can no longer speak for themselves. Simply put, the Veterans Honor Garden cannot exist without you - and through your sponsorship, you help give peace, respect, and remembrance to heroes who might otherwise be forgotten.
Ready to Sponsor?
You can become a recognized benefactor of the Veterans Honor Garden at Lutz Cemetery with your $5000 donation. All donations are tax-deductible.
Direct Donations for Garden Interments
You can make a direct donation for a garden interment. Interment options include placement in a Level One or Level Two Columbarium Niche, placement in a Level Three or Level Four Columbarium Niche, or a Ground Interment. These donations include a Patriots Way 8" x 8" custom engraved brick for the sponsor and an engraved niche cover or headstone for each sponsored veteran.
Funds collected will be applied to each veteran as they are scheduled for interment in the Veterans Honor Garden at Lutz Cemetery.
Level One or Two Niche
Level Three or Four Niche
Ground Interment
Purchase Bricks for Patriots Way
At the heart of the Garden is a memorial walkway, paved with engraved stones that tell the stories of service, sacrifice, and remembrance. Each stone is sponsored by individuals, families, or organizations who wish to support the Veterans Honor Garden project. These contributions help cover the costs of building the Veterans Honor Garden and the cost of interment for the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans from all over the country.
The engraved stones bear messages of honor - names, military units, dates of service, personal dedications, and memorials from supporters like you. These stones form a lasting tribute and a meaningful path that leads to the Veterans Honor Garden of Lutz Cemetery.
Order Your Brick Today
By clicking on the link, you can begin the order of your custom engraved stone for Patriots Way at Lutz Cemetery. We appreciate your support and are so happy to have you on this journey to create something truly remarkable and deserving for our American heroes.
Your Gift Builds Their Legacy
The garden is being created entirely through donations and sponsorships, a community-led effort to ensure our heroes are remembered with the dignity they deserve.
Where Your Gift Goes
Your gift directly supports the construction and long-term care of the Veterans Honor Garden. Whether through a one-time donation or a named sponsorship, you help give these veterans the honor they earned and a final resting place of peace.
How The Veterans Honor Garden Supports the Missing in America Project
The Missing in American Project is a non-profit organization supported by The American Legion through a resolution. Lutz Cemetery's Veterans Honor Garden will be a place where the Missing in America Project can inter identified veteran cremains at no charge or expense.
The Missing in America Veterans Recovery Program (MIAP) (EIN: 20-8408832) is a Federal recognized Non-Profit Veterans Organization for the identification, verification, and movement of Veterans and their Dependents.
Donations made directly to Lutz Cemetery on behalf of The Veterans Honor Garden will be applied to the construction and maintenance of this particular Garden, as well as the cost of interment for these cremains within this Garden.
The Missing in America Project
For generations, they've waited. Unclaimed, forgotten.....
...silently occupying the shelves of mortuaries and state hospitals across the United States.
The cremated remains of veterans, many simply forgotten by their families and friends, await interment and military honors.
Today, the Missing in America Project - MIAP - is seeking what could potentially be tens of thousands of unburied U.S. veterans who served America in uniform.
Their stories have begun to emerge from the shadows of storage rooms.
The American Legion, by resolution, supports the efforts of the Missing in America Project.
The Missing in America Project Progress to Date
If you would like to support The Missing in American Project directly, please click this link for more information.