Nov 09, 2011
WASHINGTON — Richard L. DeNoyer, the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., issued the following statement regarding confirmed reports of gross mismanagement by the mortuary affairs unit at Dover Air Force Base, Del.
"The VFW demands that the Departments of Defense and the Air Force get to the bottom of this, to hold accountable those directly responsible, and to ensure necessary controls are in-place and followed to never permit such disrespectful incidents to ever occur again. What happened at Dover AFB exceeds on many levels the nationwide anger that resulted from reports of mistreated wounded at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007 and reports of lost or misplaced graves at Arlington National Cemetery in 2009. You only get one chance to return our fallen warriors to their families with all the dignity and respect they deserve from a grateful nation — and that mortuary affairs unit failed."