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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| John Glenn’s remains were disrespected at the military's mortuary, Pentagon documents allege |
| 2017-05-26 |
| [MILITARYTIMES] A senior mortuary employee at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware twice offered horrified inspectors a peek at American icon John Glenn's dead body while the famed astronaut awaited burial earlier this year, according to an internal memo obtained by Military Times. Things have certainly changed a lot, apparently. The last time I was at Dover, ten years ago, they were almost over-correct about military remains. The disturbing allegation has outraged Pentagon officials and sparked a top-level investigation to determine whether misconduct was committed. The memo, written by Deborah Skillman, the Defense Department's director of casualty and mortuary affairs, states the employee's alleged actions were "clearly inappropriate and personally shocking." The document is dated May 11. Glenn, who in 1962 became the first American to orbit Earth, was 95 when he died Dec. 8. A combat-decorated Marine, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors April 6, on what would've been his 74th wedding anniversary. Glenn's family asked the Air Force to care for his remains in the interim, a request that was granted to "ensure an increased level of privacy and security for a renowned public servant, Marine Corps officer, and pioneer of space exploration," Skillman's memo states. It was during that time, first on Feb. 28 and again on March 2, when William Zwicharowski, the mortuary's branch chief, "offered to allow the inspectors to view the dear departed." Skillman was among them. "Moreover," she wrote, "this offer to view the remains was also made in the presence of, and observed by, junior personnel on the Dover Mortuary Branch staff." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 No "selfies," thank goodness. |
| Posted by: Anomalous Sources 2017-05-26 22:06 |
| #5 tl;dr. What Rob Crawford said. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2017-05-26 12:48 |
| #4 I have to wonder if what Mr. Zwicharowski was really offering the inspectors was the chance to see for themselves that things were being done properly, given his history of going outside the chain of command to report improprieties. A shop that passes inspection with a score of 94% doesn't blatently make inappropriate offers to inspectors, especially in front of junior personnel. Then there is all the bosom-heaving vocabulary. In order: horrified disturbing outraged shocking |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2017-05-26 12:47 |
| #3 There's always the possibility he offered to allow the inspectors to check that Glenn was stored properly, and misconstruing that offer is the retribution for earlier whistle-blowing. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2017-05-26 12:45 |
| #2 When I read the headline I thought it might have been a former member of Lincoln Savings and Loan or one of his debtors from his reelection campaign. |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2017-05-26 08:47 |
| #1 ...This may not entirely explain things, but it's a start (from TFA): Skillman noted in her memo that Zwicharowski made comments indicating he believed the inspection was an act of reprisal for having exposed, six years prior, how the mortuary mishandled the remains of some fallen service members returning home from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. She disputes that in memo, writing “it is important to note that this inspection was pursuant to a new DoD inspection policy, and three other sites had been inspected prior to the team’s inspection of Dover." It's unclear what that new policy entails, though Ryder said the mortuary passed its inspection with a score of 94 percent. Zwicharowski, along with two other mortuary employees, was at the center of a whistle-blower scandal that revealed body parts had gone missing or were disposed of improperly. They were subsequently honored with Public Servant of the Year awards after nearly being fired for going outside their chain of command to report what they believed were code violations, public health dangers and gross mismanagement. ...So let me get this straight: 1. The guy does the right thing, and - in the end - is rewarded for it. 2. He's convinced that what appears to be a routine inspection is actually retribution, so he 3. Does something every bit as bad and reprehensible as the things he reported on. Got it. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2017-05-26 05:24 |