Air Force Disrespect for the Dead Draws VVA’s Ire

[boardman]

Air Force Disrespect for the Dead Draws VVA’s Ire

(Washington, D.C.) – “It’s a matter of respect, of honoring service and sacrifice,” said John Rowan, National President of Vietnam Veterans of America. “And the members of VVA are quite frankly saddened, if not outraged, at reports that the Air Force, our Air Force, has disrespectfully and unceremoniously dumped the incinerated remains of at least 274 American troops in a landfill in Virginia, far more according to news reports than the military had acknowledged previously.”

“What is unconscionable,” Rowan noted, “is that, according to a report in today’s Washington Post, the landfill dumping ‘was concealed from families who had authorized the military to dispose of the remains in a dignified and respectful manner.’ To us, this does not mean dumped in a landfill. Whoever came up with that idea ought to think about a second career.”

With the tens of billions of dollars spent on the global war on terror, Rowan said, “Is it too much to ask that protocols be followed for the proper disposal of body parts? How much could that cost?”