AUBURN — A viral Facebook post helped reunite a family with the missing urn of a U.S. Navy veteran.
The urn of Elmer M. Briggs Jr. of Lisbon was found in a U-Haul storage unit at the Route 4 business. Employees Caleb Robinson and Matt Burgess noticed the urn and thought it was a bit odd, so Robinson posted a photo of it on his Facebook page.
“It seems to be a U.S. Navy vet’s ashes, please share this so we can find his family and return him,” Robinson’s post read. It was accompanied by the photo.
After thousands of shares and assistance from Purple Heart Reunited, a group that specializes in reuniting families with veteran remains and memorabilia, the urn was given to the Briggs family, some of whom live in Sabattus.
Burgess said the ashes weren’t in the urn; they had already been spread somewhere.
Briggs’ widow, Carol, of Woolwich and their family learned of it online and retrieved it Sunday.
This urn, which once contained a U.S. Navy veteran’s ashes, was found in a U-Haul storage unit at the Route 4 business.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.