One of the ways Americans helped finance the cost of our participation in World War II was through the largest savings bond buying campaign ever seen in this country.

The Treasury Department enlisted politicians, celebrities, even cartoon characters to help sell war bonds with slogans like, "Keep ‘em flying," Block Out This Menace," "Invest in Invasion" and the title of this piece, "Stop This Grab."

The large majority of American families of that era bought at least one of these Series E Savings Bonds and the sales of these bonds continued until 1980.

Because these bonds came with a 40-year maturity date, there are many "out there" still earning interest. But there are roughly $16 billion worth of unclaimed matured bonds forgotten by the buyers, lost or misplaced.

In fact, as we lose more and more of The Greatest Generation to death, surviving family members may not even be aware of the bonds and their worth.

Enter Uncle Sam with his greedy hands out. The Treasury Department is claiming ownership of these unclaimed bonds.

But a number of states are saying, "Stop this grab," and they're doing it by filing a lawsuit charging that the Feds have made no attempt to find the owners.

Every state has an unclaimed funds division in the state capital, which has the ability to make a real attempt to find the owners and failing to do so would keep the money in the communities where the bond buyers once lived. (Let us show you how to find your own unclaimed funds.)

The federal government, on the other hand, just wants to take the money and probably use it to buy off another special interest group.

Our federal government is almost fiscally bankrupt and now it wants to add moral bankruptcy to the mix.

In the words of our grandparents and parents who invested in these bonds to support the troops, we say, "Stop this grab."

Instead of stealing what doesn't below to you, Uncle Sam, why don't you ramp up a new war bonds campaign to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rather than put us and our children deeper and deeper into a debt we'll never be able to repay?

Americans no longer stand beneath a flag of red, white and blue. It's become a flag of screwed, blued and tattooed.

Enough, already!