I would never have guessed that this much manpower, time and attention to detail went into bringing the bodies home. I know it's a movie and surely escorts don't lovingly stare at every dead body before closing the casket, but how accurate is this? Does every body get this door to door treatment?
shareVery accurate. However, to be absolutely certain, you should join up, get your head blown off, and experience it for yourself. I'm sure your family would appreciate the effort.
shareWow that's a pretty *beep* reply to his question! I would hope all of our casualties are treated with the amount of respect that this movie shows!
sharepeterz - why don't you join up die and let your family respond you well somebody already said it
Anyhow, I too was very curious did a lot of research spoke to many people and yes that is how all military killed in service R treated that respectfully and escorted. & attended a funeral and saw
I am not sure about all arms of the service but in the Marine's yes every body is treated in this manner. And I can see why. I had to escort my father back because he died on a vacation my mother had taken. And when I arrived in NY the wrong body had arrived when the undertaker came to pick it up.
shareMy father died while vacationing in Italy. Al Italia lost his remains in transit. There's a reason why the army so lovingly, and rightfully, take care of their own in this time honored way. I can imagine how much pain your family went through. My condolences on the passing of your father.
shareIt was a nightmare. I can't imagine how your family dealt with your father since it was in another country. I had problems and it was right here. My mother was so distraught she had to be taken home earlier So my fathers body going to the wrong place was not something she needed to know about. The funeral parlor people who met me and my father when we got to Penn Station was use to this happening so they knew how to deal with my mother I was so mad could of spit. The strange thing is I was a Conductor so we get certain privileges and access then a passenger does so I still do not know how he ended up on LA. So if this happened to me I can imagine how bad it really is.
They make you feel that everything was being taken care of and of course you are not at your best. But I did check to make sure at Salt Lake City that they he did not go to LA but to NY. But somehow he went to LA. So the Marines got it right. I do not think the other Armed services offer a escort.
Just FYI, all branches of the military get an escort for those killed in action, using Dover as the hub for processing all branches.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/a/remains.htm
When my father was 'misplaced', I actually asked an Al Italia agent how many dead people they had on the flight. Evidently there was more than one, which would make one think that they would have a tighter process than they do. But based on our mutual experience, clearly that's not the case.
The only reason we got Dad's remains back in any kind of timely fashion was because we have a relative with connections in the government, who helped to intercede on our behalf. The funeral director was amazing. He went to the airport three times; the third time (when Dad finally showed up), they asked him for $795. What, is that the going rate for a dead guy? No - it was duty on Dad's casket, something none of us ever considered. The funeral director put it on his personal credit card - he was NOT coming back one more time without my father. We of course paid him. But that was going above and beyond.
Wow what mess. And I cannot believed they paid duty on the casket. Come on. I can if it was some special imported casket from Italy for someone who died here. But Jesus your dad was in it. What a outrage.
I remember during the Vietnam war we would see the bodies coming into Dover on the News every evening. That is one of the reason people became outraged about the Vietnam War and was one of the man reasons people who normally were supporting the war went against. And that is why Bush put a ban on filming body bags coming into Dover.
Trust me, this was not a fancy casket. Dad wasn't a fancy guy. As for the caskets of soldiers, they should lead the news on a nightly basis. And Bush ... well, I won't go there here.
shareI see we agree. About the duty fee, I could see if it was imported to this country for someone who died here and insisted they have some handmade casket from Italy. But your father was in the casket. I can't believe they did that. It was out of necessity.
shareThe military began sneaking the bodies in at 3 am to Dover because the media was there in the the daytime. It was getting rather embarassing with 3-5 bodies coming home daily so the leadership started bringing them in at odd hours.
Gotta keep Bush from looking bad ya know.
This kind of "manpower, time and attention to detail" is just what most impatient people expect for their packages and special deliveries of merchandise, yet it gets criticized when it is done for a person.
shareThey try. It's a very long and mentally exhausting process for those that do it. It's hard to explain, but it's very taxing on the soul. Especially when they were so young, not even one full enlistment...
shareFirst yes....second as a mother of a Marine I am slightly offended by your use of the word "coddled"..each and every one of those caskets holds a Mother, Father, Sister, brother, best friend, etc.... do you think that anyone of those people would ever use that word...do you think they were being coddled when they died for something that at 19 they really understood...???what made this movie/story interesting was that Lt. Col. Michael Strobl a high ranking officer took this body because after seeing so many of them pass in front of him everyday
shareYou've chosen to look for negative connotations where they don't exist. Coddle doesn't necessarily imply anything bad but you've chosen to think I meant it insultingly.
shareThen I apologize for that.. but coddle.. by definition means to treat in an indulgent way.... I don't think you can ever treat our fallen soldiers in an over indulgent way....no matter where when or how they loose their lives they were doing something that no other American was willing to do.