.
Funeral home directors unrelated to the case claimed that the procedure is highly unusual, and the industry's standards require professionals to treat the dead with reverence. Dover used this unusual practice until 2008, at which time military officials changed the policy to burying the ashes of the dead at sea (Whitlock). .
"This is a no-fail business," said Schwartz. "This is one of those areas where perfection is the only standard, and any deviation from that is not only a disappointment, it is an affront to the families of the fallen and our expectations of ourselves." The Air Force has been working with Dover to perfect their policies for almost two years (Whitlock). .
Retired Army General John Abizaid led the Pentagon-commissioned review of the Dover mortuary that eventually released the malpractice information after he was asked to look into the allegations that burned partial remains of 274 troops were dumped into a Virginia landfill between 2003 and 2008. Senior Pentagon officials, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta all claimed they did not know what was going on. However, Panetta has ordered officials to urgently get to the bottom of the matter and report back to the victims' families (Whitlock).
"I'm devastated," said Stephanie Dunn DeSimone, the widow of a Navy commander killed in the terrorist attack. "It's shocking to hear they were mishandled, especially by the military. The Pentagon has done such a good job for most of us these past 10 years" (Whitlock). .
Similar allegations arose in 2005 when family members of the victims from the World Trade Center claimed that their relatives' remains were taken to a Staten Island landfill. They filed a lawsuit to force New York to look for the remains, but were denied after a judge ruled that they could not prove they had claim to the remains (The Washington Post). .
"The Department is continuing to assemble records and information on the past practices of disposition of partial remains," read a statement released by George Little, the Pentagon press secretary.
