Unclaimed veterans buried in N.Y. with full honors

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. -- A New York cemetery has held a mass funeral for 20 military veterans whose remains were never claimed.

They were buried Saturday with full military honors at Calverton National Cemetery on eastern Long Island.

All of them died recently. No one claimed their remains.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said the service is part of a national effort to clear a backlog of unburied or unclaimed veterans' remains.

A folded flag from each coffin was handed to mourners standing in for absent relatives. They included members of Gold Star Mothers, a group of parents who lost their children in the military.