A veteran’s remains are coming home after two years, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Alvin Pugh, an Air Force veteran who grew up in Pueblo, died Feb. 2, 2022 in New York City. His remains were not buried until Feb. 1, 2023, in Calverton National Cemetery in Wading River, New York. For two years, the Pugh family said they were never notified of their loved one’s death, only finding his grave through a Google search in mid-March.

After the case garnered media attention in April, however, the VA agreed to re-inter Pugh’s body at Pikes Peak National Cemetery in Colorado Springs, close to friends and family.

“In cases of unclaimed remains of veterans whose deaths did not occur in VA facilities, VA generally relies upon the reporting municipalities and professionals (coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors) to contact a veterans’ next of kin,” said the VA in a statement to media.

“While those efforts were made in this case, New York City was unable to contact Mr. Pugh’s family before facilitating his interment in one of VA’s National Cemeteries. However, as Mr. Pugh’s family notes, VA did have contact information for Mr. Pugh’s family in a separate records system at the time of his interment,” according to the statement.

“We deeply apologize for not identifying that before his burial, and we are taking steps to prevent this from happening again in the future,” the statement read.

To that end, the VA stated that the Veterans Benefits Administration recently established a program to place “specialized indigent veterans and unclaimed remains coordinators” at its regional offices. These coordinators will work closely with points of contact within the Veterans Health Administration to search for and support next of kin when an unclaimed deceased veteran is reported to a VA regional office.

“Providing all veterans — including those whose remains are unclaimed — with the lasting resting places and memorial services they deserve is a top priority for VA,’ said the VA in the statement. “We are conducting a full review of our policies to do whatever we can to prevent this from happening again.”

“Again, we offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Pugh’s family for their loss. We will continue to work directly with them moving forward,” the statement read.

Patti Pugh told the Chieftain that a time and date for her brothers’ reinterment has not yet been selected, but said that she has accepted an offer from the VA to handle the logistics of bringing Alvin Pugh’s body home.

Pugh said she still has questions about what protocols exactly would be put in place to prevent the same from happening again.

“It’s going to bring closure for our family, but it does not bring closure for others. (This process) has revealed other people who are out there and the same thing has happened,” she said.

“So I think that because of what happened with Alvin, our family has become, per se, whistleblowers on the situation,” she said.

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to the Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Colorado veteran’s remains returning home after two years