Moisture at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery causes veteran's urn to rot

DFW cemetery moves veteran's urn after moisture causes rotting

Moisture in a columbarium at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery caused the wooden urn of a Korean War vet to rot. FOX 4's Shaun Rabb helped the family reach out and get their father's remains moved to a dry place.

DALLAS - The family of a veteran buried at the Dallas Fort-Worth National Cemetery says the burial site is now moving their parents' remains to a dry spot after moisture caused rotting within their columbarium.

Moisture causes rotting in veteran's urn

Mike and Greg Matus reached out to FOX 4's Shaun Rabb after he says the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery was initially unwilling to move their parents' cremated remains from their resting place.

Their father, Marvin Matus, was a Korean War veteran who passed away in 2020. Their mother, Helen, was buried alongside their father when she passed away earlier in 2026.

Marvin and Helen Matus

The brothers say they discovered a buildup of moisture at their father's headstone when the family went to bury their mother's cremated remains in March. The moisture had caused rotting within their father's wooden urn.

"They took the headstone off to place mom's ashes in there with dad's and dad's box, and it's just rotting away from the moisture," Matus told Rabb. "There's standing water — standing water inside the vault."

What they're saying:

Mike Matus says he reached out to the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery the same day he and his family said their final goodbyes to Helen on March 19, but had been unable to get their parents' remains moved.

"This isn't rocket science. When we opened it up on [March 19] and saw the moisture, I would think as the cemetery director, you would say, ‘Hey, this is an issue that we need to fix now’," Mike Matus continued.

Mike and Greg Matus

The brothers turned to Texas Senator Ted Cruz and hired a lawyer to help, but could not get the cemetery to understand their frustration.

Rabb spoke with the director of the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery on Monday. After that call, the cemetery reached out to the family to help move their parents' cremains.

"He said, 'Come by, we can change out the box, we'll move them to the new column'," Mike Matus said. "Obviously, they don't know where the moisture's coming from, and he said we can do that today or tomorrow."

Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery

What's next:

The cemetery released the following statement to FOX 4 on the matter:

"The Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery is working with the family to move the cremated remains of Mr. and Mrs. Matus to a new columbarium niche."

Greg Matus hopes the cemetery can figure out the cause of the moisture to prevent rotting from happening to other veterans' remains.

"The thing that all these people here have in common is they all earned the right to be here through duty and service, and it's objectionable on a lot of levels, but especially to treat a veteran's remains this way at a national cemetery it's especially shocking," Greg Matus said. "We really appreciate the accommodation and the work you've done hopefully we're going to get some action now."