The story of the mistreated soldier’s coffin has changed, and changed drasticly, from its original telling.
The Pentagon said that proper military honors were performed during the off-loading of the coffin. And because airports do not normally allow hearses on the runway, a separate cart carried the remains to a cargo holding area to load into a hearse.
“At no time were the soldier’s remains moved with other luggage or baggage,” read a printed statement released today.
A woman and her three friends said they witnessed a flag-draped wooden box with a coffin inside being taken from an airplane’s luggage conveyor and placed in a cart alongside other luggage on the runway, on Oct. 27.
Cynthia Hoag of Dansville, Livingston County, wrote an op-ed piece in the Democrat and Chronicle on Tuesday describing the incident. Since then, local political leaders have called for new procedures and an investigation into what happened.
But federal officials said an initial review of the incident determined that proper procedures were followed.
“The Department of Defense has worked closely with the Air Transport Association and members of the airline industry to ensure that the fallen are treated with dignity and respect,” said Leslye Arsht, deputy undersecretary of defense for Military Community and Family Policy.
“We continue to work with the Army and the local authorities to get a better understanding of the events in question, in an effort to ensure that the fallen are handled with the reverence, care, and dignity befitting them.”
Initially, witnesses suggested that the soldier’s coffin was lumped in with luggage in the same baggage cart. However, through interviews, it appears that the coffin was put into an empty baggage cart that was attached to carts filled with luggage. The train of carts then apparently left the runway together.
Northwest Airlines, on which the coffin was flown, related in a printed statement Thursday night that a military escort stood at attention as three airline agents transferred the coffin from the aircraft to an empty cart, then closed the privacy curtains. Northwest said it complied with all military and airline procedures.
The airport said there was no video of the incident.
Hoag said this morning that her main concern was that a soldier’s body not be put on a baggage cart at all, regardless of whether it was with luggage or not. As she waited for a flight inside the terminal, Hoag said the scene was cold and impersonal, not befitting an officer who just lost his life.
“It just seems they could have done something better than they did,” Hoag said. “That’s the whole point.”
Suddenly, they saw a wooden box, not a coffin. And it was put onto an empty baggage cart, not one with luggage.
And, Ms. Hoag is a nitwit.
Prior Post: Bringing the Dead Home
