The
Dover military mortuary entrusted with the solemn duty of receiving and
caring for America’s war dead twice lost body parts of remains shipped
home from Afghanistan, the Air Force revealed yesterday. Three mortuary
supervisors have been punished for what the Air Force called “gross
mismanagement,” but no one was fired. The Air Force, which runs the
mortuary at Dover, Delaware, acknowledged failures while insisting it
made the right decision in not informing families linked to the missing
body parts until last weekend – months after it completed a probe of 14
sets of allegations lodged by three members of the mortuary staff. At a
news conference yesterday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz
said Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has appointed a panel to review
operations at the Dover mortuary.
