Behind the Scenes at Dover Mortuary

It has been a tough start of the week at Dover Air Force Base, the home to the Defense Department's joint services morgue and mortuary. The personnel at Dover serve their country daily with the daunting task of handling the remains that arrive back in country on behalf of grieving families.

Though methodical procedures are in place, this week more personnel were detailed to assist with the return of 30 service members who were killed Saturday when their Chinook helicopter was shot down during a mission in Afghanistan.

The casualties were transported in flag-draped containers from Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany before arriving at Dover.

Dover AFB is home of the largest military mortuary in the Department of Defense, and has been used for processing military personnel killed in both war and peacetime; the remains of those killed overseas are traditionally brought to Dover before being transferred to family. 

Typically, the mortuary can accommodate the remains of 100 servicemen a day and has storage space in large metal freezers for about 1,000 more bodies.

Van Williams, the public affairs chief for the Dover Air Force base’s mortuary affairs operations, said the helicopter crash “was so horrific” that the remains of the servicemen could not be easily identified. 

According to the WashingtonTimes.com report, Williams said the bodies were loaded into the plane “all together” in the transportation cases, rather than in the usual single container for each service member.

Williams said at least three family members for each service member were invited to attend Tuesday’s ceremony, so at least 90 family members were there. 

“We are there for families,” he said. “We don’t tell them what we will give them. They tell us and we accommodate.”

Pentagon officials continued Tuesday to withhold the identities of those killed in the crash early Saturday in the remote Tangi Valley in eastern Afghanistan.

Family members have revealed to reporters some of the names, but Pentagon officials declined to say why they have not followed suit. “We are not prepared at this time to release the names, that’s all I can tell you,” said Marine Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

Inside the Military Mortuary

Behind the front doors, there is an atrium with plants and a fountain. "Dignity, Honor and Respect" reads the motto on the stone wall, above a display that commemorates moments in a journey that ultimately ended here at Dover for many.

For Operation Iraqi Freedom every soldier, sailor, airman, and marine killed in action to date are honored.

Each transfer case first goes into the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Room. Its foot-thick, steel-reinforced walls are built to withstand a blast from a pound of C-4, and they are scanned for unexploded bombs or ammunition.

The remains are digitally photographed and archived. Besides the photographic record, the bodies — and parts of bodies, if separate — and their personal effects are bar-coded to make sure nothing is lost.

The bodies identity are then confirmed only here. The fingerprints of are examined by experts from the FBI; dental and full-body X-rays are made; DNA samples are compared with those on record, obtained before deployment with a blood sample. Only then can the body on the table officially given his name before undergoing an autopsy.

In the atrium of the building are two doors, labeled Counseling and Meditation used by families on rare occasions — but most often by those assigned to cleaning and cataloging dog tags, wallets, personal items that might include family photographs or letters with envelopes still holding a faint trace of perfume.

The bodies are placed in either wood or metal caskets as specified by the family or the service member's paperwork, and dressed in uniform selected. If the remains are too damaged to be clothed, Williams said, the clothes are laid on top.

The mortuary contains a full uniform shop, with every size of uniform shirt, jacket, and pants from every branch of service and all the accoutrements that go along with it. 

The final part of the process are the creaseless flags that are pressed in the uniform shop. They are longer than a standard flag, nine-and-a-half feet long by five-feet wide, a different proportion from the traditional eight-by-five and they are always draped the same way, with the stars over the soldier's heart.

On Tuesday, President Obama paid his respects at the base to the U.S. troops and their families affected by Saturday's tragedy.

According to White House staff accompanying him, Obama was escorted by Col. Mark Camerer, the 436th Airlift Wing Commander, after his motorcade drove him down the tarmac to the two C-17s containing the remains of the fallen service members. He boarded the planes with his military aide and spent time on board paying his respects, according to a WashingtonTimes.com report.

Afterward, Obama was driven to a building on the base where approximately 250 family members and fellow service members had gathered. He spent more than an hour meeting informally with family members, offering his condolences for their loss and his gratitude for their sacrifice and service, according to his staff.

Other visitors in the room with family members included Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Adm. William McRaven, a former Navy SEAL and most recently head of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.

As one of Fort Bragg's own, McRaven was commander of JSOC and oversaw the raid in which Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. McRaven replaced the first Navy SEAL to become a four-star admiral, Adm. Eric T. Olson as the leader of U.S. Special Operations Command in a ceremony at the headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base on Monday. During the ceremony he also paid his respects to the lives lost. 

Kelly Twedell, the Fort Bragg local editor for Patch.com, serves on a CARE team through the Family Readiness Group, volunteering to help families dealing with death. CARE team members are trained and help with simple, everyday tasks that may take a back seat in a time of crisis.