Some War Dead Were Cremated at Facility Handling Pets

Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, center, attends a news conference with Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, left, and Lt. Gen. David Huntoon. (By Haraz N. Ghanbari -- Associated Press)

The Air Force has no crematory facility at Dover Air Force Base, where the Dover port mortuary handles the remains of all U.S. service members who die overseas. As a result, in 2001 Air Force officials contracted with two local funeral homes to perform cremations, including with Torbert Funeral Chapels and Crematories, which oversees the facility managed by Bose, and another crematory that is located with a funeral home.

Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, director of the Air Force Staff, said he does not know whether any military officer had ever inspected the contracted crematories. "That is something which we need to take a look at," he said.

Typically, Bose said, service members would drop off remains at his crematory after he signed the paperwork for them, and would return the next day to sign for and pick up the cremains.

That would be contrary to the normal procedure described by Klotz, in which the military provides an escort for all service members killed overseas during transport to the United States, and again after "medical processing" at the Dover mortuary as the deceased returns home for interment.

Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne directed yesterday that the service "cease using the off-site crematory, use only crematory facilities that are co-located with licensed funeral homes, and have a military presence during the off-base process at the funeral home facilities," Morrell said.

Military officials said they are concerned that the new requirements, such as that the crematory be located with a funeral home, could slow the cremation process.

"Dover is a relatively small city . . . so there is a limitation in terms of the number of facilities that could do that," he said.

Even the suggestion of impropriety with cremations touched a raw nerve at the Pentagon.

Military culture instills that showing respect for the fallen is an extremely important and solemn duty. Funerary rituals such as removing flags from military caskets and presenting them to the deceased's family are carried out meticulously, while other demonstrations of respect include personally delivering news of the loss of a loved one to the next of kin.

The officer who went to Delaware did so "to be a physical presence, to be a part of that bond that is so unique to this warrior ethos in our profession," Lt. Gen. David H. Huntoon Jr., director of the Army Staff, said. Instead, he said, the officer found conditions that he considered "insensitive."