Devil Soul
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US Air Force burned soldiers body parts: WP
Updated at: 2153 PST, Thursday, November 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: US Air Force officials admitted today that dead soldiers' body parts were for years burned and dumped in a Virginia landfill, as a scandal surrounding the practices at Dover Air Force Base mortuary continued to deepen, The Washington Post reported.
The report said that From 2003 until 2008, body parts that could not be identified or that family members had said the military could dispose of were cremated, then incinerated and dumped in the landfill.
It said the practice was typically withheld from families of the dead.
Dover AFB, in Delaware, is the main point of repatriation for the bodies of American soldiers killed abroad.
The revelation follows earlier disclosures that body parts had been lost at the base and that staff had cut off a Marine's arm so he would fit in his casket.
Air force personnel executive Lt-Gen Darrell G. Jones told the Post that dumping burnt bodies in the landfill "was the common practice at the time and since then our practices have improved".
Since 2008, body parts that cannot be identified or that the family advises the military to dispose of have been buried at sea.
Lt-Gen Jones would not comment on whether disposing of the bodies in landfill was dignified, saying "We have recognised a much better way of doing things. Let me be emphatic: I think the current procedures are better."
He did not explain why both cremation and incineration were employed as methods, although he compared the process to disposing of medical waste. A spokeswoman for the landfill operator said her company was not made aware of where the ashes had come from.
The scandal has seen three mortuary staff disciplined, but none have lost their job.
Updated at: 2153 PST, Thursday, November 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: US Air Force officials admitted today that dead soldiers' body parts were for years burned and dumped in a Virginia landfill, as a scandal surrounding the practices at Dover Air Force Base mortuary continued to deepen, The Washington Post reported.
The report said that From 2003 until 2008, body parts that could not be identified or that family members had said the military could dispose of were cremated, then incinerated and dumped in the landfill.
It said the practice was typically withheld from families of the dead.
Dover AFB, in Delaware, is the main point of repatriation for the bodies of American soldiers killed abroad.
The revelation follows earlier disclosures that body parts had been lost at the base and that staff had cut off a Marine's arm so he would fit in his casket.
Air force personnel executive Lt-Gen Darrell G. Jones told the Post that dumping burnt bodies in the landfill "was the common practice at the time and since then our practices have improved".
Since 2008, body parts that cannot be identified or that the family advises the military to dispose of have been buried at sea.
Lt-Gen Jones would not comment on whether disposing of the bodies in landfill was dignified, saying "We have recognised a much better way of doing things. Let me be emphatic: I think the current procedures are better."
He did not explain why both cremation and incineration were employed as methods, although he compared the process to disposing of medical waste. A spokeswoman for the landfill operator said her company was not made aware of where the ashes had come from.
The scandal has seen three mortuary staff disciplined, but none have lost their job.