Arlington unveils a new unknown soldier

[babylonsister]

Arlington unveils a new unknown soldier

The first headstone stamped "Unknown" since 1984 is the result not of war's chaos, but of human error

Editor's note: This story is part of a special Salon investigation of problems at Arlington National Cemetery.

By Mark Benjamin


A headstone for an unknown soldier (left) sits in the empty spot pictured at right on July 21, 2009.



Oct. 7, 2009 | For the first time in a generation, Arlington National Cemetery has marked the burial of an unknown on its storied grounds. Only this time, 25 years since the last interment at the Tomb of the Unknowns, the identity of the body remains a mystery not because the ravages of war made identification impossible, but because in a bureaucratic error the cemetery lost the paperwork showing the identity of the remains.

Arlington recently installed a headstone marked "Unknown" above grave 449 in section 68 of the cemetery. "A grave marker has been placed at grave 449 in section 68 noting the remains as Unknown," Army spokesman Dave Foster confirmed to Salon in a statement.

This is the first time the cemetery has marked an unknown since 1984, when Arlington entombed the remains of a Vietnam veteran in the Tomb of the Unknowns in a ceremony rife with pomp and circumstance. Former President Reagan presided, posthumously awarding that service member the Medal of Honor. And that unknown soldier was supposed to be the last unknown interred in any U.S. military cemetery, given advances in DNA technology and a multimillion dollar effort to account for every soldier and identify all remains. A body that could not be identified was supposed to be a thing of the past.

But Arlington's newest unknown, buried without special ceremony, is the exception to what was intended to be the rule. The cemetery buried someone in grave 449 -- likely relatively recently, since that section is an active part of the cemetery -- and then lost track of the paperwork showing the identity of the remains. In 2003, workers went to bury a newly deceased service member in that plot, only to find unmarked remains in the ground. Paper records had listed the plot as vacant.

Rather than publicly admit this error, Arlington quietly left the remains unmarked for six years. For those six years, passersby saw only an empty plot of green grass in spot 449, surrounded by stones etched with names.

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/10/07/arlington_cemetery/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I am struck by how very appropriate your sigline is today...

And I grieve for this person's family as well for this person...

Unknown.

Inexcusable.


K&R

[babylonsister]

2. Hi, Peggy.

You're up early.

Yes, the sig line certainly applies here. Too bad Arlington doesn't seem to take it to heart. :(

[Historic NY]

3. Amazing a single simple database system could help track these records..

leave it to the Army, another SNAFU. A story like this really calls into to question for survivors is my loved one really in the grave.