May 10, 2008
Cremation: Deceased Members Of U.S. Military Need To Be Treated With Dignity
When I came across this article it made me sick and damn mad. Our finest and bravest deserve better than this.
It has since been rectified but that doesn't undo the insensitivities done.
The U.S. military has, since 2001, cremated some of the remains of U.S. service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in a Delaware facility that also cremates pets, a practice that ended Friday when the Pentagon banned the arrangement.The facililty, in an industrial park near Dover Air Force Base, has cremated about 200 service members, manager David Bose said Friday night. It uses separate crematories a few feet apart to cremate humans and animals, he added.
Pentagon officials said they do not think any humans were cremated in the pet crematory. "We have absolutely no evidence whatsoever at this point that any human remains were at all ever mistreated," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said late Friday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates found "the site and signage insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen," Morrell said. "The families of the fallen have the secretary's deepest apology," he said.
The revelation came to light when an Army officer who works at the Pentagon traveled to Delaware on Thursday to attend the cremation of a military comrade.
Offended to discover that the facility was labeled as a pet crematory, the officer sent an e-mail late Thursday to superiors at the Pentagon that included a photograph of the signage more.
BTW, the facilities billboard said Friends Forever Pet Cremation Services
My state and congressional representatives are definitely going to hear from me.
