Since the inception of U.S. savings bonds in 1935, their sale has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of America’s military and veteran affairs.

These financial instruments, born in the aftermath of the Great Depression, have always been more than mere economic tools – they represent a silent contract between the American people and those who serve in uniform. As a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve, U.S. savings bonds have always had a special place in my heart.

For nearly ninety years, proceeds from these bonds have directly supported the U.S. government, providing a steady stream of funding to underpin military operations, technological advancements, and programs for veterans. Ever since the buildup to World War II, federal bonds have been the financial bedrock upon which America’s military might has been built and maintained.

Some of the earliest marketing materials for U.S. savings bonds highlighted this connection to the American military. In the 1940s, they were regularly referred to as “War Bonds” or “War Savings Bonds.” It was a real national effort – famed composer Irving Berlin wrote the song “Any Bonds Today?” and theater owners across the country distributed forms for movie-goers to buy bonds with the headline, “A Pledge of Democracy.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. told Americans, “Remember, what you save now serves your country today, and yourself tomorrow.”

These bonds were a promise to build a better future, not just for the nation as a whole, but also for the individuals who purchased them. While a large number of bonds have been redeemed over the decades since they were sold, the federal Treasury is holding more than $32 billion worth of U.S. savings bonds that have reached final maturity and remain unredeemed. And every penny of that $32 billion belongs to the people who bought the bonds – not the government.

Information about the owners of these bonds has now been digitized, giving us an amazing opportunity to make good on the original promise of U.S. savings bonds by returning these proceeds to their rightful owners to help them build a better tomorrow.

The best way to get this money back into the right hands is through state-level unclaimed property programs. Last year, states reunited more than $5 billion dollars with the rightful owners. Because we are experts in this area, state programs offer the most practical and effective mechanism for returning these bond proceeds.

By leveraging resources such as the Pennsylvania Treasury’s unclaimed property website, the national website MissingMoney.com, and direct owner outreach efforts, we can actively search for – and find – the rightful owners or their heirs.

This is exactly what state unclaimed property programs are designed to do. Here’s an example: Years after the son of World War II veteran Frank Musto passed away, a safe deposit box containing his father’s Bronze Star was sent to the Pennsylvania Treasury Department under our state’s unclaimed property law.

My staff, well-trained in the art of finding people whose property we need to return, connected with the Musto family. They thought the Bronze Star had been lost forever – until we found them. Frank Musto enlisted at the age of nineteen, left his Pittsburgh home to defend our nation and our allies in Europe, and fought in major battles in both Italy and France, where he was wounded. Returning Frank’s Bronze Star to his family was an unforgettable honor.

That’s the kind of work we do every day. We know how to connect people with their unclaimed property, and I join with the members of Congress who this June urged the U.S. Treasury to empower states to act on behalf of the Bureau of Fiscal Service to find the owners of matured, unredeemed savings bonds and facilitate the payment of their claims. 

The patriotic Americans who invested their hard-earned money in our democracy deserve to see the returns on their investments. We have a moral obligation to make sure they do.

Stacy Garrity, a retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel, is Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Since taking office, she has returned more than $750 million worth of unclaimed property. She has also returned hundreds of military decorations to veterans and their families.