its been done this way since the dawn of war
what are they supposed to do with the bodies
my father told me my great grandfather was shipped from france to new york aboard ship and from new york to san angelo with a load of meat aboard a train to be buried with full military honors during WW1. they were glad to get him back for burial. so most of you need to get off your high horse and realize only so much can be done to respect the dead
I really wasn't taking a position. Just passing along info that interests me. Before today, i knew nothing of how this is actually done. Not that I don't care, just something that hadn't occurred to me.
perhaps you didn't mean that for me anyway.
Actually it's pretty much new since the end of WW-II. In that war, and previous ones, the bodies were not generally shipped home. That's why there are huge American cemeteries in France, Belgium, etc. The pacific portion of WW-II was the first where the bodies were not usually buried near where they fell. Many were shipped back from whatever island they were taking to the "Punch Bowl" cemetery in Hawaii.