The Common Ills: Another US service member killed in Iraq

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Another US service member killed in Iraq

Yesterday, another US service member died in Iraq. Justin Hinkley (Battle Creek Enquirer) reports that the family of 25-year-old Senior Airman Jimmy Hansen's family was informed last night that their loved one died in Iraq yesterday "when 'something went wrong' while the airman was helping to detonate captured bombs." AP notes that, as of last night, the Pentagon still hadn't issued an announcement on the death. If you click here, you'll be at the USF press release page and USF is where the death announcement is supposed to come from (DoD is supposed to later identify the fallen in an announcement -- after the family has been notified). The death announcement is supposed to come from USF and it's yet another example of not only how they are not doing their job (repeatedly) but also how they keep getting away with it. But then when the White House doesn't want the focus to be on Iraq, USF can get away with not doing their job (repeatedly).

September 7th, Pfc James McClamrock and Sgt Philip Jenkins were killed while serving in Iraq when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on them (nine other US service members were injured in the attack). Yesterday that was a procession in Concord, North Carolina as McClamrock's body returned home. WSOC (link has text, video and a photo essay option) reports that "the route of the processional, which went along Interstate 85 and through Concord," was packed with with mourners paying their respects. Ben McNeely (Independent Tribune) adds, "Charlotte-Mecklenburg authorities closed down northbound Interstate 85 from the airport to Dale Earnhardt Boulevard as the processional passed. On every overpass I-85 in Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties, firefighters lined bridges, running their emergency lights and displaying large American flags to passersby." And McNeely notes, "Funeral service will be at Forest Hill United Methodist Church on Union Street North, Concord on Friday at 4 p.m. Burial will full military honors will follow at Carolina Memorial Park in Kannapolis." The Harsell Funeral Home notes:

He is survived by his wife of two years, Shannah Marie Dartt McClamrock, of Huntersville, NC; parents, James Mark and Susan Uhls McClamrock, of Concord, NC; brothers, John, Barnes and Harrison McClamrock all of Concord, NC; sisters, Kathryn and Caroline McClamrock also of Concord, NC; maternal grandmother, Christine Uhls, of St. Petersburg, FL.; Ray and Peggy Barnes, of Hendersonville, NC. Jamie was preceded in death by his grandparents, Fleet and Deta McClamrock.
Memorials may be made to 27th Infantry Regiment Historical Society, 4383 Claude Court, Oxford, OH 45046 or to Concord A.R.P. Church, 177 Union Street North, Concord, NC 28025.

Meanwhile Melissa Warner tells Allison Keyes (NPR's Morning Edition), "We just want Heath to know that we love him and we did this for him." She and her husband Scott Warner had their son's Arlington Cemetery exhumed yesterday out of concerns that Pfc Heath Warner might be one of the many mis-buried in Arlington (wrongly buried in the wrong grave). When the body was exhumed, they ensured it was their son by making the military show the tattoo on their son's arm. Oren Dorell (USA Today) speaks with Scott Warner and provides the backstory:

About a year ago, he began to hear about problems with record-keeping at Arlington.
"Our Arlington community friends expressed to us there had been an isolated incident of a misidentified grave," Warner said. "We didn't think anything of it."
Then more reports started coming out, and he paid closer attention.
An Army inspector general's report in June found 211 cases of mislabeled or unmarked graves in three of Arlington's 70 sections.
It also found that cremated remains had been mistakenly interred in the wrong graves. There were several instances of urns containing cremated remains found in a cemetery landfill, where dirt for graves was stored.

The 19-year-old Pfc Heath Warner died while serving in Iraq from a November 2006 roadside bombing.

The following community sites updated last night: