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Arlington Cemetery: Over 200 Graves Mismanaged, Mislocated

by Amy Judd | June 10, 2010 at 03:33 pm

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An Army Investigation Has Discovered That Over 200 Graves in Arlington National Cemetery Have Been Misidentified or Mislocated

The investigation was launched last fall when there were questions over cremated remains buried in the wrong grave site and now the army has appointed a new leader at the cemetery after 211 graves were found to be affected.

The graves are either mislocated or misidentified and two of those graves were in the section reserved for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I deeply apologize to the families of the honored fallen resting in that hallowed ground, who may now question the care afforded to their loved ones," Secretary of the Army John McHugh said.

Burial records from the historic cemetery are missing, along with burial urns left in the dirt that is dug up for gravesites.

Army investigators found a "lack of established policies and procedures, a failure to automate records, and long-term systemic problems," documents show.

The names and ages of the affected graves has not been released, but there could be more as the investigation is continued. There are over 300,000 graves in Arlington Cemetery spanning 150 years and the Army has admitted it cannot guarantee that all of them will be accounted for.

"While the inspector general's team found that [cemetery] employees performed their jobs with dedication and to a high professional standard, they also found them hampered by dysfunctional management, the lack of established policy and procedures and an overall unhealthy organizational climate," McHugh said. "That ends today."

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t k kidwai

at 20:48 on June 10th, 2010

See the greatness of American people.They take good care even of their dead.So much so that dead voted for Kennedy against Nixon.We must learn some thing from them to the benefit of the dead,to hell with those who are alive.