Tweet
Good thing Memorial Day is already passed.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7147910.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7147910.ece
America’s pantheon of war dead, the hallowed Arlington Cemetery on the edge of the capital, has mislaid more than 200 of its fallen heroes.
An investigation carried out by General Steven Whitcomb, Inspector-General of the US Army, revealed yesterday that the nation’s most sacred shrine was a shambles, where hundreds of graves are incorrectly marked.
Headstones have the wrong names, some graves recorded as empty have the remains of unidentified soldiers — and there have been cases of doubling up, with the body of one dead soldier dumped on another.
The record keeping has also been found wanting, with burials listed on paper files that go astray. The digital age has not yet reached Arlington National Cemetery.
As Americans learn the shocking details of the desecration of their monument, heads are certain to roll. John Metzler, the long-standing superintendent of the cemetery, has already resigned. He was sent a letter of reprimand by John McHugh, the Army Secretary.
Thurman Higgenbotham, Mr Metzler’s deputy, is on “administrative leave” and could face disciplinary charges.
Shamed by the revelations, Mr McHugh apologised yesterday to the families of the servicemen and servicewomen who perished in battle around the world and ended up in the wrong graves. He described Arlington National Cemetery — in Virginia, south of Washington DC — as “the most sacred place on this planet”.
General Whitcomb said that the cemetery was supposed to have “zero defects”. But he revealed that in his investigation he had discovered 211 graves where errors had been made. He admitted during a press conference at the Pentagon that more could be found.
Families had come forward to tell him: “This isn’t where my father/husband was buried.”
The largest numbers of mistakes were found in Sections 59, 65 and 66, which cover a number of past wars, although not Iraq or Afghanistan.
But even in Section 60, where US servicemen and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest, two graves were found with the wrong markings.
A significant number of graves are unmarked, the report noted. In Section 27, the official map shows that there should be 5,816 occupied graves but there are only 5,303 headstones.
Some of those buried have lost their identities. Their graves are easy to find using the cemetery’s own records but the headstones above many of them now read “Unknown”.
According to the investigation, one person appears to be in two places. James Harris is buried twice in adjoining graves, but the records show that one of the Harris headstones is above the remains of Moses Ludley.
Some graves are missing headstones. Meredith Hudnell died on September 7, 1864. There is only grass above her remains, according to research carried out by a news journal called Salon. General Whitcomb insisted that no one was guilty of intentionally producing improper markings on gravestones. He also said that there had been no “intended sloppiness”.
He admitted that the US Army owed it to families of the fallen to do better — and Mr McHugh promised that the families could be reassured that similar mistakes would not be made again.
Mr McHugh said he attended all the funerals and they were humbling experiences. He was shocked that so many anomalies had been found among the gravestones.
The cemetery is famous for its rows of white headstones, precisely positioned across 624 acres. Each year in May, on Memorial Day, the graves are marked with a Stars and Stripes flag.
It is the nation’s most sacred shrine and is divided into 70 sections. Raised up on a hill overlooking the sea of graves is the Tomb of the Unknowns — also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
An investigation carried out by General Steven Whitcomb, Inspector-General of the US Army, revealed yesterday that the nation’s most sacred shrine was a shambles, where hundreds of graves are incorrectly marked.
Headstones have the wrong names, some graves recorded as empty have the remains of unidentified soldiers — and there have been cases of doubling up, with the body of one dead soldier dumped on another.
The record keeping has also been found wanting, with burials listed on paper files that go astray. The digital age has not yet reached Arlington National Cemetery.
As Americans learn the shocking details of the desecration of their monument, heads are certain to roll. John Metzler, the long-standing superintendent of the cemetery, has already resigned. He was sent a letter of reprimand by John McHugh, the Army Secretary.
Thurman Higgenbotham, Mr Metzler’s deputy, is on “administrative leave” and could face disciplinary charges.
Shamed by the revelations, Mr McHugh apologised yesterday to the families of the servicemen and servicewomen who perished in battle around the world and ended up in the wrong graves. He described Arlington National Cemetery — in Virginia, south of Washington DC — as “the most sacred place on this planet”.
General Whitcomb said that the cemetery was supposed to have “zero defects”. But he revealed that in his investigation he had discovered 211 graves where errors had been made. He admitted during a press conference at the Pentagon that more could be found.
Families had come forward to tell him: “This isn’t where my father/husband was buried.”
The largest numbers of mistakes were found in Sections 59, 65 and 66, which cover a number of past wars, although not Iraq or Afghanistan.
But even in Section 60, where US servicemen and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest, two graves were found with the wrong markings.
A significant number of graves are unmarked, the report noted. In Section 27, the official map shows that there should be 5,816 occupied graves but there are only 5,303 headstones.
Some of those buried have lost their identities. Their graves are easy to find using the cemetery’s own records but the headstones above many of them now read “Unknown”.
According to the investigation, one person appears to be in two places. James Harris is buried twice in adjoining graves, but the records show that one of the Harris headstones is above the remains of Moses Ludley.
Some graves are missing headstones. Meredith Hudnell died on September 7, 1864. There is only grass above her remains, according to research carried out by a news journal called Salon. General Whitcomb insisted that no one was guilty of intentionally producing improper markings on gravestones. He also said that there had been no “intended sloppiness”.
He admitted that the US Army owed it to families of the fallen to do better — and Mr McHugh promised that the families could be reassured that similar mistakes would not be made again.
Mr McHugh said he attended all the funerals and they were humbling experiences. He was shocked that so many anomalies had been found among the gravestones.
The cemetery is famous for its rows of white headstones, precisely positioned across 624 acres. Each year in May, on Memorial Day, the graves are marked with a Stars and Stripes flag.
It is the nation’s most sacred shrine and is divided into 70 sections. Raised up on a hill overlooking the sea of graves is the Tomb of the Unknowns — also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.