War dead cremated at facility for pets
AFP
Saturday, May 10, 2008 20:49 IST
But official have said there have been no instances that human and pet
remains were mixed
WA****NGTON: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates ordered a review of the
handling of the remains of US war dead and apologised after learning that
some were cremated in a commercial facility that also cremates pets, the
Pentagon said.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there was no evidence that any
US servicemember was cremated in an incinerator used for pets.
But Gates believed that the use of a commercial facility that cremated
both
humans and pets, albeit in separate incinerators, was “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
added.
An unidentified army officer complained earlier Friday after visiting the
military’s mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to pay respects to
a
comrade who had been killed in combat, officials said. He discovered that
the soldier was to be cremated at a facility off the base that had a sign
outside saying it was a pet crematorium, they said.
The officer sent out an email with photographs of the facility that
prompted
Gates’ action, a senior army officer said.
The facility, owned by the Torbit’s Funeral Home Crematory, had been
contracted by the air force to cremate remains of soldiers brought back
from
Iraq and Afghanistan through Dover, officials said. Morrell said the
cremations were performed at a separate site that had two incinerators for
human remains and one for pet remains.
“We have absolutely no evidence whatsoever at this point that any human
remains were at all ever mistreated, were ever not cremated where they
were
supposed to be cremated,” Morrell said. “That said, the secretary believes
that it is inappropriate, to cremate our fallen, our heroes in a facility
that also cremates pets,” he said.
The air force halted the use of the crematorium and directed that only
facilities co-located with funeral homes be used in the future, and that
there be a military presence at the facilities, Morrell said. Gates also
ordered David Chu, undersecretary of defence for personnel, to conduct a
review of the handling and cremation of remains of US military personnel.
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