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Civil War veteran's remains to be interred after 103 years in storage

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — After 103 years of being unclaimed in storage, the remains of a Union Civil War veteran will be interred at the Washington Veterans Home Cemetery in Port Orchard Thursday.

Private Zachariah M. Stucker served in the 48th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He joined the U.S. Army in 1861, reenlisted in 1864 and mustered out in August 1865, at Little Rock, Arkansas after the end of the war.

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After his military service, he worked as a laborer in the western states until 1912, when he could no longer work.  He received a Civil War pension of $19 a month starting in 1912, and lived in veteran homes until his death at the Retsil Veterans Home in Port Orchard in 1914. He was 69.

Stucker's remains were then sent to Seattle for cremation, but somehow were never returned to Retsil and remained unclaimed in storage for more than a century.

Missing In America Project Volunteer P.J. Braun discovered Zach Stucker in a list of names of unclaimed remains held in storage at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.

Stucker’s remains will be interred Thursday during a public ceremony at 1 p.m. where Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will provide Grand Army of the Republic protocols.

Those wishing to attend may park on the vacant side the Tractor Supply Co parking lot at 1415 Olney Ave SE.

Shuttle service will be provided from the lot starting at 11:30 a.m.