I’ve sung at many Requiem masses (particularly those on all Souls’ Day) where there has been no body, but we’ve had a catafalque and candles before the altar. After the mass the catafalque is just taken down and put away.
Don’t know how much longer that article will stay up - the Rocky Mountain News folded last month. That article is an example of the type of journalism that local papers could provide. Wonder if anything will take its place in the journalism world?
I always wondered what the back-home procedure was for burials at sea, like the ones in WWII in the Pacific.
Are there headstones in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific for those men, or is there some kind of Wall of Remembrance, or was the burial at sea pretty much it?
Has anyone been following the military honors or “re-burials” of the bodies of the Korean War servicemen returned by the Norks, who I presume were considered in the OP?
I can only speak for the Air Force but the families of our fallen still have the option of choosing a casket and having a uniform placed in it for funeral/memorial services and/or burial.
Source: have assisted a family in doing so in the course of my daily job.
From the reports I’ve seen, one dog tag was returned along with the 55 sets of remains. Identification of the individuals may take a long time. So perhaps too early to rebury most of them?
Yes. I can’t shake this sickening thought that that murderous bastard provided remains of God knows who.
I’ve been to a military funeral where the body had been cremated. Other than a small urn rather than a casket, it was just the same: flag held over the urn & folded to present to the widow, rifle salute, blowing Taps, etc.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
When no remains have been recovered, official determination must be made that the status of the soldier is deceased and that the remains are non-recoverable. Once that determination is made officially, the the Person Authorized to Direct Disposition of Remains (PADD) is authorized:
- Memorial services. (A variation of a standard funeral service without pall bearers)
- A Flag with case
- Memorial marker (Similar to a regular headstone, except it has the words “IN MEMORY OF” above the name). Example
ref: AR 638-2, para 14-1 and 16-3
They weren’t. A “monument aux morts” lists all people of the commune killed or missing in action. Most of them had a proper burial.
The French put the bones in an ossuary. There’s one at Notre Dame de Lorette near Arras (with unknowns from both wars and from Indo-China in a chapel for the visitors to pay their respects).
Bear, the division of the Sevices who deal with this whole affair, after the forensics and the body is ready for return, who are they?
I knew a retired special operations soldier, who, after being wounded and disabled for battle, volunteered to be in one of these details, and told me it was absolutely the hardest thing he had ever done, demanding an internal fortitude greater than ever had to call on in the field.
The handling of the body is the job of Mortuary Affairs, a component of the Quartermaster (supply) branch of the Army. Mortuary Affairs personnel are trained to do this as their primary duty.
The personnel who deal with other whole affair–personally notifying the family, assisting with the paperwork, and serving as a liason between the next of kin and the military–come from the all over. These Casualty Assistance Officers and NCOs are trained to do this on an on-call, as-needed basis. A unit is required to have a certain number of personnel trained in Casualty Assistance duties. Once they complete the week-long training, their name goes on a roster. Names are pulled off that roster as needed. When someone is tasked to carry out these duties, they step away from their regular job and go into a tempory duty status until their casualty assistance tasks are complete. This takes about a month or so, I believe. Most people who complete the Casualty Assitance training are never tasked to actually fulfill those duties.
Also, gun carriage with full size ‘casket’ of some sort under a flag. The ashes were in a small box at the back, also under the flag. Different flag used in the ceremony and presented to the widow.
In the Air Force, mortuary and casualty falls under Force Support (formerly Services, Personnel and Manpower). Small differences from the Army but overall the same
In the Pacific Theater of Operations during WW2 Kamikaze pilots would clip their nails and/or a lock of hair and put them in matchboxes, so their families would have something to bury.
Bear, thanks for your reply.
What size unit do you mean?
Also, come to think of it, would a military man need to ask (sounds funny, but you know what I mean…)?
I believe every company (80-120 personnel) is expected to have two NCOs in the rank of at least E-7, and two officers. Since a company only has four E-7s and 4-5 available LTs, it pretty much means that anyone of the eligible rank will be sent to the course to ensure that the company never falls below the requirement.
Also, in reference to your other question, I mentioned two facets of the process but left out the one most relevant to the OP: funeral services. While there is a permanent Honor Guard for Arlington, only a small percentage of veterans are buried there. For burials elsewhere, anyone can be tasked with funeral services. Training for that is informal and usually occurs ad hoc. For example, the most recent funeral service I performed was a couple winters ago. I found out only a couple days prior. On the morning of the funeral, I met up with the other personnel and gave them a bit of instruction, inspected their uniforms and ran through a few rehearsals. For deaths of personnel currently serving, the funeral detail will come from personnel in the soldier’s unit, and training will be a bit more thorough, but still informal and still ad hoc.
My father was a WW2 vet and when he died 2 guys from the local Army national guard were at the cemetery. As stated above, he was cremated but they held a flag over the urn and gave us the flag. His ashes were buried in the urn. No rifle salute but taps was played.