News-Info-Alerts

Re: US Military Considering Options for War Dead

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: February 16, 2003

"U.S. military ponders options for handling war dead

Concerns of chemical, biological attack spur plans to isolate bodies

By MIKE SLEDGE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

LANDSTUHL, Germany – As U.S. troops prepare for the possibility of facing attack with chemical or biological weapons in Iraq, the military is grappling with the delicate question of how to handle the contaminated remains of war dead.

And it is reaching into its past for lessons, contemplating a much improved system of containment than has been used before.

Military officials dismiss media reports that the military is considering mass burial, even the use of bulldozers to push bodies anonymously into pits. That option has never been under active consideration, officials say.

Instead, the military is considering a number of options for the possibility of handling remains contaminated by chemical or biological agents.

The first is temporary interment if remains cannot be completely cleansed, a daunting task. But other countries may object to such burials in their soil. Also, even if remains are not contaminated, temporary interment is the last-case scenario and requires approval from very high levels of command.

The second option is cremation, which can be accomplished relatively quickly and without exposing service troops to undue risks. However, some Americans may consider cremation to be repugnant or against religious beliefs. Public objection, though cremation has advantages, is a main reason that this option does not receive much support among military planners.

A third option – and here is where the past provides lessons for the future – is to use a containment system, but with more safeguards than were available in World Wars I and II.

Under the system described by Col. Richard Dillon, mortuary affairs officer for the 377th Theater Support Command in Kuwait, contaminated remains would be treated with a hardening compound and enclosed within a triple barrier.

The first barrier is a specially designed laminate that is resistant to chemical and biological agents and is impervious to moisture and air. Col. Dillon said the remains would be enclosed twice in this material.

The second barrier is a case that is currently used for remains that need to be isolated from the environment. This case is air- and watertight and will add additional protection against the escape of chemicals or pathogens.

Finally, the case would be placed in a casket that would be sealed, forming the third barrier. As in previous wars, the casket would be protected during transportation by a shipping container.

The transportation of contaminated remains over and through foreign lands has to be formally approved, the officials said, but existing agreements allow for the movement of biohazard materials that have been properly contained.

Once returned to the United States, there is one final issue: burial. The war dead from a conflict involving chemical or biological attacks may have to be placed in a cemetery that is protected from accidental or intentional disinterment and subsequent rupture of barriers.

In either cremation or containment, the families of those killed will not have the opportunity for an open-casket funeral, a choice that is often not available for military families anyway.

Cremation and containment procedures complicate any potential future identification work. In the case of cremation, the remaining physical matter cannot be tested. In containment, those breaching the barriers will risk exposure to harmful agents.

Therefore, the military plans to do DNA testing on all remains, setting a precedent. Samples will be taken from remains and sent to a lab in Rockville, Md., where a nuclear DNA test will be run and results compared to an analysis of DNA records on file.

But the military is not currently prepared to handle large numbers of deaths should they occur before a final policy is formed and resources allocated. This is not new. In all previous wars, the military has had to play catch-up when the inevitable deaths followed armed conflict.

Currently, should large numbers of service personnel die, from whatever means, refrigerated units will temporarily house remains until they can be transported. The use of "reefers" began in the Korean War.

The handling of war dead has evolved.

During World War I, the bodies of those who died in service were buried in temporary cemeteries; it was logistically impossible to bring them back until hostilities ceased.

After the signing of the Armistice, relatives could choose to have their loved one interred in a permanent overseas military cemetery or returned, and 60 percent requested repatriation.

The army's Quartermaster Corps shouldered the responsibility of disinterring 78,000 remains, moving 31,000 to the permanent cemeteries and returning 47,000.

After a careful study, the Quartermaster Corps developed a system that allowed for the safe and inoffensive transportation of remains. Quartermaster Corps Graves Registration Service personnel chemically treated the remains, wrapped them carefully in blankets then placed them in hermetically sealed caskets. The caskets were protected by a shipping container and loaded onto commercial transports for the voyage home.

World War II war dead were handled in much the same manner as in World War I, but the numbers were four times as large and involved transportation from around the globe.

The Korean War brought about the adoption of the policy known as concurrent return. Remains were taken to Japan and prepared for eventual shipment home.

The military created the concurrent return policy because temporary cemeteries established during the first six months of the war were overrun by enemy forces, and it was difficult for U.S. forces to maintain control over the bodies of the dead.

Concurrent return has continued to be the first course of action for the military, and the time between death and return to the family has shrunk from years to days.



Mike Sledge is a free-lance writer and author. He lives in Shreveport, La., and is finishing work on a book, Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen.

The Dallas Morning News"