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Report: Air Force dumped remains of 274 troops
The Air Force dumped the remains of at least 274 troops from Dover Air Force Base’s mortuary in a landfill, The Washington Post reported.
The Air Force had said it could not say how many troops’ remains might have been sent to a landfill because of the time and effort involved, but records given to the Post showed 976 fragments from 274 service members were sent to the landfill from 2004 to 2008.
In addition, 1,762 unidentified remains were also sent to a landfill.
“What the hell?” Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), who had sent a letter on behalf of a constituent in September about the practice, told the Post.
“We spent millions, tens of millions [of dollars], to find any trace of soldiers killed, and they’re concerned about a ‘massive’ effort to go back and pull out the files and find out how many soldiers were disrespected this way?” He added: “They just don’t want to ask questions or look very hard.”
The Air Force told the Post they were not trying to deceive lawmakers.
