Army investigating 8 sets of remains buried in single gravesite at Arlington

[unhappycamper]

Army investigating 8 sets of remains buried in single gravesite at Arlington
By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 3, 2010; 12:00 AM

The Army has launched the first criminal investigation into the misplacement of remains at Arlington National Cemetery after discovering the cremated remains of eight people dumped in a single grave site there.

Unlike past burial problems, which could have been caused by human error, the discovery of eight urns in a single grave site marked "Unknown" is "not likely a mistake," said Christopher Grey, spokesman for the Army's Criminal Investigation Command. "It demanded an investigation to determine if there's any criminality involved in the burials."

The urns were found in October, but the discovery was not announced until Thursday.

The investigation comes after a series of revelations that have marred the reputation of the country's most prestigious military burial ground and led to the ouster of its top two leaders.

Under pressure from Congress and military brass to figure out what happened at Arlington, cemetery officials flew in a top military forensic anthropologist from Hawaii, a scientist who typically searches foreign countries for the remains of prisoners of war or missing service members.

[rfranklin]

1. The criminality is that we have so many war dead...

Maybe we should slow down on filling up the cemetery.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. My Mother is buried there

I wonder how her grave fairs?

[KharmaTrain]

3. This Has Happened At Other Cemetaries

There was a major scandal in Chicago a year or so back when it was discovered that bodies and plots were being moved around to accomodate newer and higher paying "clients". While the cemetary owner was found guilty for some of the things you describe above, the investigation also showed how poorly records had been kept over the years and that many plots had been either misplaced or lost and this also contributed to having one burial atop another...or when they dug to clear out a plot they'd stumble upon a previous burial and move whatever they could salvage. Pretty gruesome stuff.

The other problem...and I recall hearing about this when I took a tour of Arlington 5 or so years back is that they're running out of space. Many cemetaries were built on the edges of cities that have now grown around them and new land and cemetaries are further away...families also like to inter their loved ones near past generations and space is limited.

It's a shame to hear of the ongoing problems at Arlington...a place that is truly sacred ground but they are running out of room (unfortunately) with a new generation who will be laid to rest there in the years to come.

[Recursion]

4. Permanent graves are a pretty new idea

For most of European history, at least, you were buried until you were just bones, at which point they put your skeleton in an ossuary when they found them while burying something else (this is what's going on in the Hamlet gravedigger scene). There's really not space to do what we imagine we do, keep people buried and undisturbed in perpetuity.

[KharmaTrain]

6. The Way They Do It In New Orleans...

I think the body is left in the crypt for 10 years before its remnants are moved...space is limited and has been for generations.

A ways back I recall reading that cemetary visits fall off drastically after the third generation...meaning those who have no living memory and thus over time family plots can get lost or be forgotten. I've seen this in my old family as few in my family ever visit our family plots and I had to do a detailed search to find other relatives who were located in other sections. One was three generations removed from me and the grave looked like it hadn't been attended to in decades.

[revolution breeze]

8. Multiple bodies can be placed in vaults but

The vault must remained closed for 10 years and 1 day between burials. The older bones are pushed to the back to make way for the new burial. Oftern entire families are buried in a single vault.

[shraby]

5. That's no excuse. There is land available, probably just not

adjacent to the original cemetery.

[KharmaTrain]

7. I Need To Find Out More...

Hopefully there were be more specifics in updated reports. I agree, there's no excuse in such a hallowed ground to deliberately moved bodies but I do recall hearing that land was scarce in the cemetary (might be the original) and it was getting hard to accomodate all the requests (at that time still a majority of WWII) especially as the Korean and Vietnam vets pass from the scene and not to mention all those who've served in the past decade who deserve similar respect when their times come.

Seems like the prestige of being in a prominant part of the cemetary is a motivation here...but as you say, no excuse and those responsible should be held accountable.

Cheers...