# Marine Corps question: who delivers the news of a Marine's death?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 14, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696 "2006-06-14T16:12:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/1 "2006-06-14T16:12:37Z")
Yet another thread about Skald’s novel-in-progress; that makes 1,000,0002.
This should be a fairly simple question. My novel has two protagonists, one of whom is Andy T., who is a ten-year-old boy at the beginning of the story. In the first chapter we learn that Andy’s father, a Marine gunnery sergeant serving in the reserves, has been killed on a training mission. As written, his family is told of Andrew Senior’s death by Major George Parker, who becomes important later in the story; he is the only survivor of the plane crash that killed Andrew, he served with Andrew in Vietnam, and he brings to the family Andrew’s bowie knife, a family heirloom of sorts.
Anyway, .as I work on the latest draft of the story, it occurs to me that having George deliver the news of Andrew’s death is just too convenient. The plane crash takes place in the Gulf of Mexico, while Andy’s family lives in Memphis; if George was in the plane crash, even if he escaped unscathed, surely he’d be too far away to be the first choice to deliver such news, despite being a long-time friend of his family. Is my feeling correct here? And, if so, who would be the person who delivered the news–that is, would it be an officer or an non-com? Would it necessarily be someone from the Marines? (The story’s set the mid-80s, at which time there was a Naval Air Station in the area.)
Thanks in advance for any help. As always, if anybody can point me to specific sources of information on the web, I’d be grateful.
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### Author:  [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/2 "2006-06-14T19:36:06Z")
Can’t remember where I first found it, but the [Rocky Mountain News](http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/) had a fantastic series on a Marine Major whose only job was notifying families and seeing them through the whole process. Very informative, it gives you a lot of information of what goes on behind the scenes, and the interactions with the family.
I was blubbering like a 2-year-old by the time I’d finished reading it.
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/3 "2006-06-14T20:58:12Z")
A Casualty Assistance Calls Officer (CACO) is assigned to act as a liason between the USMC and the next of kin. They inform the next of kin in person of the death and act as a point of contact for the family.
The CACO is usually an officer who lives in the vicinity of the next of kin (i.e. assigned to the closest base). Recruiters are often used because they are spread out all over the country.
It is unlikely, in general, that the assigned CACO would know the deceased. Because time is of the essense, an officer already in the vicinity of the next of kin would preferentially be used.
Plus, your officer at the scene of the crash would probably be caught up in the crash investigation.
More info:
[http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/oifassist](http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/oifassist)
[https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/portal/page?\_pageid=278,1952478&\_dad=portal&\_schema=PORTAL](https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/portal/page?_pageid=278,1952478&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL)
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/4 "2006-06-14T21:26:47Z")
In his book _The Boys of Summer_ Roger Kahn told the story of Clem Labine, whose son, a Marine, lost his leg in Vietnam.
> [@](#):
>
> A day later, I telephoned Marine headquarters in Manhattan and asked how badly a man had to be hurt in Indochina for his family to be notified personally instead of by wire.
>
> A sergeant named Mike Burrows called back. “In this was,” he said, as though reading, “next of kin are notified personally not only in the event of death but for any wound, however slight. We dispatch a telegram of confirmation, but an individual, frequently an officer, always precedes the telegram.”
Since the goal was to notify the family personally ASAP, the Marines would not have waited until a friend of the family was available.
On a side note, the Marine son of friends of ours recently died (not service related). A Marine at the funeral home told us there would be at least one Marine with the body at all times until internment.
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### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/5 "2006-06-14T21:28:42Z")
However you do have literary license to have your Major insist on delivering the news personally, nevermind the logistics and logic that the real world insists on.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/6 "2006-06-14T21:34:14Z")
> [@robby](#):
>
> A Casualty Assistance Calls Officer (CACO) is assigned to act as a liason between the USMC and the next of kin. They inform the next of kin in person of the death and act as a point of contact for the family.
>
> The CACO is usually an officer who lives in the vicinity of the next of kin (i.e. assigned to the closest base). Recruiters are often used because they are spread out all over the country.
>
> It is unlikely, in general, that the assigned CACO would know the deceased. Because time is of the essense, an officer already in the vicinity of the next of kin would preferentially be used.
>
> Plus, your officer at the scene of the crash would probably be caught up in the crash investigation.
>
> More info:
> [http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/oifassist](http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/oifassist)
> [https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/portal/page?\_pageid=278,1952478&\_dad=portal&\_schema=PORTAL](https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/portal/page?_pageid=278,1952478&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL)
Many thanks. So it seems I was correct in thinking that I need to change the line identifying George as the person who told the family about the father’s death, no?
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/7 "2006-06-14T21:36:08Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#):
>
> However you do have literary license to have your Major insist on delivering the news personally, nevermind the logistics and logic that the real world insists on.
Nah. It would bug me too much. I never intended to have it be one role; it developed that way during writing, and as I rewrite it strikes me as improbable. I can still have him deliver the personal effects (such as the bowie knife) without him being the person to deliver the bad news.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/8 "2006-06-14T22:25:10Z")
> [@Aguecheek](#):
>
> Can’t remember where I first found it, but the [Rocky Mountain News](http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/) had a fantastic series on a Marine Major whose only job was notifying families and seeing them through the whole process. Very informative, it gives you a lot of information of what goes on behind the scenes, and the interactions with the family.
>
> I was blubbering like a 2-year-old by the time I’d finished reading it.
Make that two of us.
I got e mailed the picture from [page 11](http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news/article/0,1299,DRMN_3_4224687,00.html) of that story a few months back. I am glad to have had a chance to read the entire story. That is some powerful reporting.
Honor, some will never know it, some will never lose it.
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### Author:  [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/9 "2006-06-14T23:08:23Z")
Actually the CACO is normally not the officer who makes the death notification. The officer assigned to make notification often becomes an emotional tie to the loss, for the bereaved, this is undestandable and for that reason they don’t want that officer to have continued contact. The CACO usually contacts the family within 2-3 days after the death notification. The CACO’s job is to assist the family w/ any and all death benefits and/or funeral arrangements.
Death notification is done by an officer (in some unusual cases it may be an NCO) of equal or superior rank. They will be accompanied by a chaplain. Although the Marines are a part of the Dept. of the Navy, they will normally make every attempt to send a marine to notify about the death of a Marine. The chaplain will normally be a Naval officer. These two officers will normally take extreme measures to locate the NOK and a try to assure that the first word of the death comes from them and not by some other means.
Since NAS Memphis would have had one or more Marine units attached, that is the logical choice for the command to provide these services.
I was never involved in this aspect, but I have done several graveside memorial services. This includes an 18 gun salute, fired in 3 volleys of 6, and the folding and presentation of the flag to the NOK.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/10 "2006-06-14T23:39:00Z")
If you read **Aguecheek** link to the Rocky Mountain News story, it appears that the Marine **CACO** does both the notification as well as the follow up.
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### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/11 "2006-06-15T00:07:33Z")
> [@Skald the Rhymer](#):
>
> I can still have him deliver the personal effects (such as the bowie knife) without him being the person to deliver the bad news.
Hopefully he’s not having to pull a Capt. Koons with that bowie knife. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/12 "2006-06-15T01:18:09Z")
> [@A.R. Cane](#):
>
> Actually the CACO is normally not the officer who makes the death notification. … Since NAS Memphis would have had one or more Marine units attached, that is the logical choice for the command to provide these services. …
Many thanks. Since neither the notifier nor the CACO is a primary character, it’s enough that I know that it wouldn’t be George, since he’s so far away when the accident occurs and since he’s likely involved in whatever investigation.
One thing more: Is the notifier going to actually be an officer? In other words, should my text read “It had been six days since Major Al B. Sure told the family…” etc?
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/13 "2006-06-15T02:11:07Z")
I’m guessing you might not want to call the character George. In Navy parlance, that’s the most junior officer who, of course, gets the cruddy assignments.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/14 "2006-06-15T02:16:22Z")
I have just read the linked article, and something I noticed was that one officer said “Somehow they always know” about when the Marines show up at a family’s door. I remember reading the book Who Gets the Drumstick?, by Helen North Beardsley. She was the _real_ mother in the “Yours, Mine, and Ours” story. Her first husband, a Navy pilot, was killed in a training accident when she was thirty three and pregnant with their eighth child. A priest came to deliver the news, and when she opened the door and saw him her words were “This is an official visit, isn’t it Father?” “Yes, Helen, I’m afraid it is” “He’s not hurt then, he’s really gone.” “He’s really gone Helen”. And after that she didn’t remember much for a while.
That article had me crying too.
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### Author:  [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/15 "2006-06-15T02:29:15Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> In his book _The Boys of Summer_ Roger Kahn told the story of Clem Labine, whose son, a Marine, lost his leg in Vietnam.
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > A sergeant named Mike Burrows called back. “In this was,” he said, as though reading, “next of kin are notified personally not only in the event of death but for any wound, however slight. We dispatch a telegram of confirmation, but an individual, frequently an officer, always precedes the telegram.”
>
> On a side note, the Marine son of friends of ours recently died (not service related). A Marine at the funeral home told us there would be at least one Marine with the body at all times until internment.
Wasn’t there a movie about Vietnam-era wives who got together to notify friends whose husbands died in Vietnam? Telegrams were being delivered with the unhappy news, but no follow-up, visits by casualty officers, or anything. Several women so treated got together and started helping their fellow war widows.
Regarding staying with the body, I believe a similar thing was said in the recent funeral episode on _ER_. In this case, a doctor serving in the Army Medical Corps was killed by an IED in Iraq. The widow was told that a soldier would stand guard until the burial.
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### Author:  [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/16 "2006-06-15T02:30:47Z")
Sorry. I should have previewed. The formatting in my above post got fouled up a bit. Sorry 'bout that.
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### Author:  [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/17 "2006-06-15T02:57:28Z")
> [@Skald the Rhymer](#):
>
> Many thanks. Since neither the notifier nor the CACO is a primary character, it’s enough that I know that it wouldn’t be George, since he’s so far away when the accident occurs and since he’s likely involved in whatever investigation.
>
> One thing more: Is the notifier going to actually be an officer? In other words, should my text read “It had been six days since Major Al B. Sure told the family…” etc?
Yes, the officer assigned to this task will usually be a Capt. (0-3) or higher , junior officers are not normally chosen because of the maturity factor. I have no first hand knowledge of an NCO being chosen, but I believe it is possible in some unusual situation. I’m speaking from personal experience and anecdotally, I retired more than 27 years ago and things may have changed, but I think I’m giving you fairly accurate info. I’m also taking into consideration that you are writing fiction and want it to be plausible.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/18 "2006-06-15T05:34:32Z")
A Navy CACO is an assigned senior member in the paygrade of E7 or above.
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### Author:  [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/19 "2006-06-15T06:53:08Z")
> [@Aguecheek](#):
>
> Can’t remember where I first found it, but the [Rocky Mountain News](http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/) had a fantastic series on a Marine Major whose only job was notifying families and seeing them through the whole process. Very informative, it gives you a lot of information of what goes on behind the scenes, and the interactions with the family.
>
> I was blubbering like a 2-year-old by the time I’d finished reading it.
Wow. Thank you for posting that link, just read the whole article. I can’t even muster up words right now…
Mods, sorry for the OT post, but that is one powerful and poignant bit of reporting.
---
### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marine-corps-question-who-delivers-the-news-of-a-marines-death/360696/20 "2006-06-15T17:06:22Z")
> [@Drum God](#):
>
> Wasn’t there a movie about Vietnam-era wives who got together to notify friends whose husbands died in Vietnam? Telegrams were being delivered with the unhappy news, but no follow-up, visits by casualty officers, or anything. Several women so treated got together and started helping their fellow war widows.
Yep, that was _We Were Soldiers_, regarding the 1st Cav. during the battle of Ia Drang.
I don’t know how true that was, since I am under the understanding an officer and chaplain notification was long since a standing thing since WWII.
Tripler
My two cents.
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