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Scott and Melissa Warner of Canton were visiting the grave site of their son at Arlington National Cemetery last summer when they heard disturbing news.
A family at the cemetery, which is in Virginia near Washington, D.C., told them the Army was investigating an incident where cemetery staff, preparing to bury a body, had dug into a grave site they thought was unoccupied and found a set of unidentified remains already there.
“We just assumed it was just a very isolated incident,” said Scott Warner, whose 19-year-old son Heath Warner, a U.S. Marine from Canton, was killed in 2006 during an attack in Iraq.
The Army Inspector General’s office launched an investigation after the news site Salon last year reported on several problems at Arlington — including the discovery in 2003 of the unidentified remains.
In June, the office said it had found at least 211 inconsistencies between maps, headstones and burial card records, indicating the cemetery had lost track of where remains had been buried.
At least four times, urns with cremated remains had been mistakenly disposed of in areas where excess dirt is stored. In 2008, the cremated remains of a master sergeant were placed in an existing grave of a staff sergeant, according to a Senate subcommittee.
Last week, the subcommittee said up to 6,600 graves of the 330,000 people buried at Arlington may not be properly accounted for in the cemetery’s files, which are still recorded mainly on index cards and paper.
The Army has placed Arlington under new management.
Warner’s doubts escalated to full-blown anxiety. His wife cried on hearing the revelations.
“We still grieve Heath, and we have to deal with this on top of it,” he said. “The fact is you just assume that that is your loved one. ... we just don’t have any peace now. Their credibility factor is gone.”
Warner said after being forwarded to different people at Arlington, he finally reached an Army soldier who said they would seek to confirm that Heath is buried beneath his headstone.
Warner asked him if Arlington’s records were inaccurate, how was that possible. The soldier said some families had asked for their loved ones to be exhumed. “Try to put yourself in our shoes and have to think about possibly exhuming your son’s body,” said Warner.
Salon also reported last year that cards, letters, photos and other mementos placed on graves in the cemetery’s Section 60, where Heath is buried with others killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, were routinely thrown out, if they were not first left out in the rain or ruined by cemetery workers with power washers.
Warner said when he and his wife visited Heath’s grave in 2008 to mark the second anniversary of his death, they discovered that a wreath they had left on his headstone hours earlier had been moved to another grave and items left on other headstones had been scattered around, apparently by a cleaning crew.
The Associated Press said starting in April, Army curators began preserving some of the mementos, at least on a temporary basis.
Warner said he and his wife have discussed exhuming the remains beneath their son’s headstone to verify it is him. Warner said he is considered moving his son to a cemetery in Ohio.
SORTING THROUGH MESS
“We’re so very sorry that the news has upset him,” said Arlington Cemetery spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst.
She said any family could request officials check the records of their loved ones buried at the cemetery to ensure they match.
For now, Warner wants to meet with U.S. Rep. John Boccieri, D-Alliance, in hopes the congressman will apply more pressure on the Army to reform Arlington and verify the locations of remains. Boccieri has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs requesting a review of practices at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Wayne County and Dayton National Cemetery.
A family at the cemetery, which is in Virginia near Washington, D.C., told them the Army was investigating an incident where cemetery staff, preparing to bury a body, had dug into a grave site they thought was unoccupied and found a set of unidentified remains already there.
“We just assumed it was just a very isolated incident,” said Scott Warner, whose 19-year-old son Heath Warner, a U.S. Marine from Canton, was killed in 2006 during an attack in Iraq.
The Army Inspector General’s office launched an investigation after the news site Salon last year reported on several problems at Arlington — including the discovery in 2003 of the unidentified remains.
In June, the office said it had found at least 211 inconsistencies between maps, headstones and burial card records, indicating the cemetery had lost track of where remains had been buried.
At least four times, urns with cremated remains had been mistakenly disposed of in areas where excess dirt is stored. In 2008, the cremated remains of a master sergeant were placed in an existing grave of a staff sergeant, according to a Senate subcommittee.
Last week, the subcommittee said up to 6,600 graves of the 330,000 people buried at Arlington may not be properly accounted for in the cemetery’s files, which are still recorded mainly on index cards and paper.
The Army has placed Arlington under new management.
Warner’s doubts escalated to full-blown anxiety. His wife cried on hearing the revelations.
“We still grieve Heath, and we have to deal with this on top of it,” he said. “The fact is you just assume that that is your loved one. ... we just don’t have any peace now. Their credibility factor is gone.”
Warner said after being forwarded to different people at Arlington, he finally reached an Army soldier who said they would seek to confirm that Heath is buried beneath his headstone.
Warner asked him if Arlington’s records were inaccurate, how was that possible. The soldier said some families had asked for their loved ones to be exhumed. “Try to put yourself in our shoes and have to think about possibly exhuming your son’s body,” said Warner.
Salon also reported last year that cards, letters, photos and other mementos placed on graves in the cemetery’s Section 60, where Heath is buried with others killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, were routinely thrown out, if they were not first left out in the rain or ruined by cemetery workers with power washers.
Warner said when he and his wife visited Heath’s grave in 2008 to mark the second anniversary of his death, they discovered that a wreath they had left on his headstone hours earlier had been moved to another grave and items left on other headstones had been scattered around, apparently by a cleaning crew.
The Associated Press said starting in April, Army curators began preserving some of the mementos, at least on a temporary basis.
Warner said he and his wife have discussed exhuming the remains beneath their son’s headstone to verify it is him. Warner said he is considered moving his son to a cemetery in Ohio.
SORTING THROUGH MESS
“We’re so very sorry that the news has upset him,” said Arlington Cemetery spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst.
She said any family could request officials check the records of their loved ones buried at the cemetery to ensure they match.
For now, Warner wants to meet with U.S. Rep. John Boccieri, D-Alliance, in hopes the congressman will apply more pressure on the Army to reform Arlington and verify the locations of remains. Boccieri has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs requesting a review of practices at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Wayne County and Dayton National Cemetery.