05/25/2026
On this Memorial Day weekend, cemeteries across the country will be busy with families visiting the graves of their loved ones who had served in the military.
But not every deceased veteran has a final resting place and family to remember them. Remains are sometimes left unclaimed for years or even decades. That’s when REALTOR® Patricia Palermo steps in to identify these forgotten heroes and ensure they have a proper military burial. In 11 years, she has helped identify and lay to rest 412 deceased military personnel whose service spans American history from the Civil War to the Persian Gulf War.
Palermo works with funeral homes, hospitals and mortuaries to identify veterans whose remains have been waiting in storage for someone to claim them. In the best cases, she is able to locate lost family members. In all cases, she arranges for the deceased to be interred in veterans' cemeteries with full military honors. She invites the public and members of veterans organizations to pay their respects so that each veteran is remembered.
"I witness the moment veterans move from being forgotten remains to being a recognized hero,” says Palermo, a volunteer with Arizona’s Missing in America Project. “[It’s] a reward beyond words. I am laying to rest veterans who were essentially lost to history—a box on a shelf—and I’m placing them in a field of honor where their names will be spoken, and their graves will be cared for."
Arizona Association of REALTORS
