Posted on 08/16/2006 9:57:56 AM PDT by Robe
This attached letter appeared in the Aug 15th edition of the local Rock Hill Fish Wrap (The Herald) The writer describes witnessing seeing a hanger full of deceased US Marines laid out in their dress blues. Something about this seems a bit fishy….. I have served as an officer in the military but have no experience in escort duty I would like to have some feedback on the validity of the writer’s observations
Spin regrettable on coffin video
My dog, Mojo, would like nothing better than to lie splayed out on the cool floor and dream about catching rabbits (that's as far as Mojo gets in his hunting). However, the smells that emanate from certain campaign stories in The Herald and that are used in campaign literature are driving him crazy.
Several weeks ago, he was awakened from one of his dreams by an article in The Herald detailing a flap over a video that showed flag-draped caskets. I was at the computer and felt his paw on my arm. I leaned over, and he asked that I tell the readers of The Herald the story I once told him. I agreed.
I was an infantry officer in the Army. My last assignment, after returning from overseas, before leaving active duty, was training troops at Fort Jackson. As my time at Jackson drew to a close, I turned my command over to another officer and did short-term tasks. Thus, I was asked to be an escort officer for an officer who died in Vietnam. I was to pick up his body at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and escort him to his hometown, Chester, for a service and then to Arlington for burial.
I got to Dover early and wandered around the base. I happened to walk into a hangar and saw a sight that I will never forget. It was right after Tet. Laid out in their dress blues on tables was what looked like a hundred young dead Marines. They were awaiting "shipment" to their homes. I felt the most incredible sadness.
The next days were doubly somber as I took the friend I never knew home to Chester. I stayed with his body whenever the public was present, got to know his family, traveled by train to Arlington, saluted as "Taps" was played and handed the folded flag to his mother.
What Mojo smelled in the article was an attempt to turn an inappropriate part of a fund-raising video into an inappropriate use of that tape as a campaign tool by those who don't know Congressman John Spratt well. Congressman Spratt, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a former captain in the Army, did the right thing. He used his influence to get the tape pulled. His opponent, Ralph Norman, who has never served in the military, rather than simply applauding the congressman's action, tried to "spin" the situation to his advantage. Norman was wrong. I'm glad that his attempt to keep using the honored dead for partisan purposes was not successful.
Mojo is patting my arm with his paw. I don't think he wants to go for a walk. I think it means he understands.
I think you meant hangar, not hanger.
This was right after Tet. I would not be surprised if it were a true story.
Of course the author's beloved Congressman John Spratt is a DIM.
My BS meter is banging against the stop at the top of the red zone on this one.
This guy says his dog talks to him... and we're supposed to take him seriously?
Dover is really two facilities. It's a major airlift base and remains being transported back to the States usually come through there. Remains are not shipped without a casket or other container.
The second facility is a military mortuary, where remains are prepared for transportation back to the family for services. It isn't in a "hangar."
What rings false to me is he recalls seeing remains in "dress blues" meaning they would have been prepared, but not in any kind of casket. I suppose that's possible after the large number of casualties after Tet, but it wouldn't be the standard procedure for the mortuary affairs people. I'd want to get some kind of a response from Dover or a Dover retiree who was around during Tet, especially if this involves a Dem and a campaign issue.
We need someone who worked in the morgues in Vietnam. Those that I knew, family members and friends who were killed in Vietnam, were shipped home in closed coffins and those coffins were not opened as far as I know. I have no doubt that there were many flag draped coffins.
Had a friend who worked "graves" at Zama. They processed lots of bodies for return to CONUS.
From what he told me, the bods were pretty cut up. As a GI, one each, your innards belong to the fedgov. Sooo, there usually was a mess except for the faces, etc.
After a journey of several weeks, I don't think they were "laid out in dress blues." I think this is fiction by someone who does not know or remember the process of bodies sent home from Nam.
Therefore, I call BS.
Embalmer's paradise...
My BS meter is joining your BS meter
BTTT
WATKINS, JAMES O
ROCK HILL, SC 29732
PROVIDENCE PRESBYTERIAN
TENENBAUM, INEZ MOORE
VIA INEZ TENENBAUM FOR US SENATE
03/29/2004 250.00 24020631918
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