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RANDOLPH, Vt. — In World War II, Samuel Mazur was a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber that flew over Europe.

Three decades later, he died of cancer — with no family at his side — at a Veterans Administration hospital in Vermont. His cremated remains were sent to a funeral home, where they were placed on a shelf and forgotten.

“He had an interesting life,” said Euclid Farnham, who knew him. “He really did not have anyone.”

Until last week.

On Friday, Mazur got full military honors as he was laid to rest along with three other forgotten veterans as part of the Missing in America Project, a volunteer organization that seeks to identify and honor the unclaimed remains of American veterans.

There was no family, but there were dozens of leather-clad, motorcycle-riding veterans at the Vermont Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery and a military honor guard.

“The recognition of their service transcends their death, and in places like this cemetery, we will continue to devote ourselves to their cause,” retired Army Col. Joseph Krawczyk said during the ceremony.

In two years, the group’s volunteers have visited 592 funeral homes, found 6,327 sets of unclaimed remains, identified 491 of them as belonging to veterans and interred 325, said Bruce Turner, the Vermont coordinator.

Fred Salanti, 60, of Redding, Calif., founded the organization after discovering that unclaimed remains of veterans were being buried in California veterans cemeteries without the honors he felt they deserved.

“Some of us who are Vietnam veterans, we still have something locked inside of us that makes us want to reach out and honor other veterans,” Salanti said. “When you stand in a Missing in America Project service and see 60-year-old men, streaming tears, and you look around and see no family, we are their family.”

The group has begun identifying unclaimed remains and — when possible — returning them to family members. When no one can be found or no one is interested, the remains are interred in veterans cemeteries.

Last year, the group received $5,000 in donations, Salanti said.

“We can’t afford to have a budget,” he said.

Jim Johnston, a spokesman for the Vermont Funeral Directors Association, said about 5 percent of all remains are never claimed.

He estimated there were a couple dozen sets of unclaimed remains in the funeral home he runs. He’s now going to check to see how many were veterans.

“I think once the word gets out that they can be buried at the veterans cemetery, (directors) will start checking their remains to see how many veterans they do have,” Johnston said.

The others found with Mazur were Ralph G. Hemphill, who served as a private during World War I; Julius John Morse, who served in the Navy in World War II; and Doris Ferriter, an Army second lieutenant in World War II.

Closings and events.