Further Update in Extended Section Below.
An Additional Updated 4 Dec 2006
In all the local news today, Monroe County (NY) Executive Maggie Brooks calls on the Federal Government to make sure that the remains of our fallen troops are properly handled. This came in response to an op/ed piece published Tuesday in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle newspaper by a woman who claims to have seen a flag draped coffin being offloaded from an airplane to a baggage cart along with the checked luggage.
It seems a fair number of people are skeptical that events occured as written:
Where was outpouring of respect for fallen soldier?
By Cynthia Hoag
Guest essayist
(November 28, 2006) — On Oct. 27, I was waiting for a flight with three friends at the Greater Rochester International Airport. As we talked and laughed, we watched airport personnel unloading luggage from a plane. And we were surprised to see a soldier in uniform standing by the airplane looking things over, and watching the luggage belt that was loaded with baggage.
Since I have served in the Army Reserves for 21 years, my friends asked me why I thought he was standing there. I did not need to answer because as I looked down, a box with the American flag draped over it came down the belt. The lone waiting soldier stood at attention saluting the fallen soldier.
My friends and I sat silently watching the casket roll down the belt, and then, to our surprise, disappear into the cart with the rest of the luggage. The waiting soldier stayed with the casket and rode in the cart as they pulled away.
My friends and I were speechless. I, as many Americans, support our troops and know they believe they are truly making a difference in Iraq. As I read the paper every day, I see the number of soldiers who are killed every day. I served with soldiers who were deployed in support of the war. I have not, however, known anyone who has been killed in it. After I read the paper I usually go about my business not thinking again about the young men and women who died trying to complete their mission. Since I have not been affected by the death of a loved one, or a friend, I haven't been as aware of the devastation that their families must endure. I'm afraid most people feel that way.
This incident, however, changed that for me. I saw the casket of a fallen soldier, saluted by a lone soldier, and then placed in the baggage cart. Baggage. There was a young man standing at the window watching intently with us. He made no comment, but I can only hope that he was not a relative.
At the very least, couldn't there have been a hearse to transport the fallen soldier? At the very least, couldn't there have been a group of soldiers to receive one of their own? If it had been a dignitary/celebrity arriving, the reception certainly would have been different.
It was a very sobering, sad experience for all of us. Please, don't let this happen again to any soldier. Let's not treat our fallen troops like baggage.
A funeral director states in the comments section here that she could not have seen a flag draped coffin coming down the luggage conveyor belt, that the coffins are enclosed in another type of container for transport. This seems more realistic to me.
I'm certain we will be hearing more about this.
Update - From the news Friday, 1 December:
It appears that while the coffin was put into a baggage cart, it wasn't lumped in with other luggage in the same cart as initially suggested.
Witness Kathy Button, Hoag's friend, provided more specifics Thursday, saying that with a uniformed soldier present, the boxed coffin was placed on a baggage cart attached to two other carts filled with luggage — creating a trainlike vehicle that drove off. She said the coffin was put respectfully on a third cart without other luggage.
Northwest Airlines, on which the coffin was flown, said in a statement Thursday night that a military escort stood at attention as three airline agents transferred the coffin from the aircraft to an empty cart, then closed the privacy curtains. Northwest said it complied with all military and airline procedures.
Although the military has not officially released the name of the fallen soldier, it is believed to be Army Sgt. 1st Class Tony Knier of Sabinsville, Pa., who was killed in Iraq on Oct. 21.
Sgt. Knier's mother on Thursday pledged to get answers on what happened, saying she's stunned and distraught over the accounts she read in the newspaper. She said she will go as high as the president if she has to, or she may even sue the United States.
Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-Clarence, Erie County, said he requested that the Army conduct a full investigation, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., wrote to the Defense Department to review its policies. Other political leaders, including Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the matter needs to be investigated.
Update - From the news Saturday, 2 December (posted here 4 December):
The Defense Department said Friday that the U.S. Army followed proper policies in its transport of a soldier's coffin last month at the Greater Rochester International Airport.
The Pentagon said that proper military honors were performed during the off-loading of the coffin. And because some airports do not normally allow hearses on the runway, a separate cart carried the remains to a cargo holding area to load into a hearse, the Pentagon said.
"At no time were the soldier's remains moved with other luggage or baggage," said a statement on Friday.
David Damelio, Rochester's airport director, said hearses can be allowed on the tarmac at the Rochester airport to receive a coffin if requested by loved ones. The majority of military coffins are met at the airport by a hearse, he said.
Since 2003, Damelio said, the airport has assisted in 11 soldiers' coffins coming to Rochester. Ten of those had hearses within 40 feet of the aircraft.
It didn't happen in this case because it wasn't requested by the military or the family, officials said.
To prevent similar incidents, political leaders — including Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — have called on the military to change its policies. In particular, they said, airports should be notified when a soldier's coffin is brought through the airport, which is not currently required.
In the Knier case, the airport was unaware his coffin was being transported there.
But some of the confusion may be resolved as of Jan. 1. A new law will require that remains of soldiers who die in combat be transported from Dover to the soldier's home destination by military aircraft.
Moreover, unless a family objects, an honor guard would be required to travel with the remains. In Knier's case, it appears that only a uniformed military escort traveled with the coffin.
The new law also spells out more specifically how a coffin would be handled coming off a plane, stating that an honor guard shall carry "out the remains with a flag draped over the coffin to a hearse or other form of ground transportation for travel."
But whether the language would prohibit use of a baggage cart to transport a coffin is unclear. And the law doesn't indicate whether airports would have to be notified when a soldier's coffin is en route.
Linked at Argghhh!
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