Body of corpsman killed in Afghanistan is returned to Weatherford

AP Transfer cases containing the remains of Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Clayton R. Beauchamp, left case, and Army Spc. Ethan J. Martin, right case, sit on a loader Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Beauchamp, of Weatherford, Texas, died Aug. 7, 2012 when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Helmand province, Afghanistan and Martin, 22, of Lewiston, Idaho, died Aug. 7, 2012 in Koragay, Paktia province, Afghanistan of wounds sustained when he encountered enemy small-arms fire. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark) ORG XMIT: DESR107

STAR-TELEGRAM/RON T. ENNIS Base personell and families line the street on Naval Air Station Fort Worth on Wednesday August 15, 2012 to welcome Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Clayton R. Beauchamp, 21, who was killed in Afganistan. (Star-Telegram/Ron T. Ennis)

Body of corpsman killed in Afghanistan is returned to Weatherford
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012
BY CHRIS VAUGHN
Star Telegram

FORT WORTH -- Navy corpsman Clayton R. Beauchamp's body returned to his hometown Wednesday, escorted by a long procession of vehicles and motorcycles and saluted along the roads by hundreds of service members, police and firefighters.

Beauchamp, 21, a petty officer third class who was killed by a roadside bomb Aug. 7 while on patrol in Afghanistan, will be buried Saturday at Memory Gardens of the Valley Memorial Park in Weatherford.

The funeral is at 2 p.m. Saturday at North Side Baptist Church in Weatherford.

The casket was flown from Dover, Del., to Naval Air Station Fort Worth on Wednesday morning and was transferred by a Navy honor guard to a hearse.
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Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan returns to somber Homestead

Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan returns to somber Homestead

Army Spc. Gerardo Campos, 23, came home to Homestead in a flag-draped coffin Tuesday, 10 days after he was killed by enemy gunfire in Afghanistan just weeks into his first overseas assignment.

BY CAROL ROSENBERG
A fallen Florida soldier came home in a flag-draped coffin Tuesday to a somber hero’s welcome at Homestead Air Reserve Base from 200 U.S. forces and weeping family members.

Army Spc. Gerardo Campos, 23, of Homestead was killed in Afghanistan on June 2.

An infantryman, he was on his first overseas deployment from his U.S. Army base in Washington state and left behind a wife and 10-month-old daughter. The soldier had just deployed to Afghanistan in April, according to the military, meaning he had been serving abroad for just weeks.
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Sgt. Daniel Angus' family await apology after Air Force mortuary scandal

Tampa Marine's arm sawed off to be "dressed" for funeral?
Family of slain Marine await apology after Air Force mortuary scandal
By Robbyn Mitchell
Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, June 1, 2012

TAMPA
Silently, the Angus family waited.

The mother, father and sister of Sgt. Daniel Angus bided seven months to see what punishment would come for the morticians and supervisors responsible for sawing off the arm of the Marine killed in Afghanistan.

Last week, a reporter — not the Pentagon — called the family with the news.

And they grieved for Daniel Angus yet a third time.

This time, they wanted to be heard.

"More than anything, we deserve an apology that doesn't start with 'I'm sorry, but …' " said his mother, Kathy Angus, in a news conference Thursday. "Everyone involved needs real consequences for what they did."

The Air Force said in a statement last week that Dover Air Force Base Port Mortuary supervisors Col. Robert Edmondson and Trevor Dean were punished for retaliating against employees who complained about the way servicemen and servicewomen's bodies were being handled.
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Air Force mortician pays price for whistleblowing

Air Force mortician pays price for whistleblowing
March 30, 2012
 By David Martin (CBS News)
MAGNOLIA, Del. - On Friday, the military released documents that explain how incinerated partial remains of 9/11 victims went into a landfill. Some officers from the Dover Air Force Base mortuary wanted a burial at sea overseen by a chaplain, but instead the remains were declared medical waste. The Dover mortuary has also been accused of mishandling the remains of fallen troops. One man tried to stop it, but he paid a price. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has his story. It is a grim and solemn sight: flag-draped caskets coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. But unseen is an even grimmer fact: Many of the bodies inside those caskets have been blown to pieces. read more here Air Force campaign of retaliation

Dover documents show how 9-11 remains ended up in landfill

27 minutes ago
Dover documents show how 9-11 remains ended up in landfill
By CHRIS CARROLL
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 30, 2012

WASHINGTON – The summer after the 9-11 attacks, Air Force personnel pondered whether to ceremonially disperse ashes of unidentified biological remains from the Pentagon crash site at sea, or to dispose of them as waste. In a report released in February, an investigation headed by retired Army Gen. John Abizaid concluded there had been a breakdown of procedures and command authority at the Dover Port Mortuary, leading to improper handling of servicemembers’ remains. “Debate raged throughout the department” about what to do with the biological material in questions, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness Joanne Rooney said Friday. read more here

Air Force: 'Campaign of retaliation' at mortuary

Air Force: 'Campaign of retaliation' at mortuary
Two officials face discipline over handling of war dead controversy
3/16/2012

WASHINGTON — Two supervisors at the Delaware mortuary for U.S. war dead are facing disciplinary action for engaging in a "campaign of retaliation" against whistle-blowers whose revelations of wrongdoing caused a major scandal at the facility, Air Force officials said Friday.

A third supervisor involved in the case — former mortuary director Quinton Randall Keel — resigned from the Air Force this month in the wake of a scandal over the mishandling of some war dead remains, including some that were disposed of in a landfill.

"Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated and we expect to have all decisions complete by mid- to late-April," Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said in a statement. "The Air Force will not tolerate wrongdoing, especially prohibited personnel practices, by employees."

An investigation report released last year found gross mismanagement at the mortuary located at Dover Air Force Base, including losing body parts on two occasions and sending partial remains of at least 274 troops to a Virginia dump. That policy was abandoned in 2008 and partial remains are now buried at sea.
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Dover Port Mortuary will need more training and reviews

More training, reviews needed, Dover panel says
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 21, 2012

SAN ANTONIO — The military should conduct regular inspections, tighten training standards and increase oversight over mortuary operations, according to the group tasked with assessing operations at Dover Port Mortuary after a scandal involving the mishandled remains of fallen troops.

The group, led by retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, former commanding general of U.S. Central Command, briefed its findings and recommendations Tuesday to the Defense Health Board, which is a federal advisory committee to the defense secretary.

The final report is to due to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta by Feb. 29.

“What could be more important than in their fallen last measure that we properly take care of our service men and women?” Abizaid said.
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Air Force punished Dover whistle-blowers

Probe: Air Force punished Dover whistle-blowers
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012


By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have concluded that Air Force officials at the military mortuary in Dover, Del., illegally punished four civilian workers for blowing the whistle on the mishandling of body parts of dead troops.

The Office of Special Counsel said in a report released Tuesday that they have recommended to the Air Force that it discipline the three officials who allegedly retaliated against the whistle-blowers. The three were not identified by name. It said one is an active-duty military member and the other two are civilians.

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said in a statement that he has appointed a two-star general to review the findings and take "appropriate action." Donley said reprisals against whistle-blowers are unacceptable.

Donley said he and the Air Force's top officer, Gen. Norton Schwartz, "believe strongly there is no place for reprisal in the Air Force. Reprisals against employees are unethical and illegal and counter to Air Force core values."

Air Force seeks outside advice at Dover mortuary scandal

AF Seeks Outside Advice on Dover Penalties

December 21, 2011
Associated Press
by Lolita C. Baldor

WASHINGTON -- Air Force Secretary Michael Donley is expanding his review of the disciplinary actions taken as a result of the mishandling of body parts at the Dover, Del., military mortuary, and he did not send a completed assessment to Pentagon leaders last week as initially expected.

In a statement Tuesday, the Air Force said Donley is asking a retired general and two experts to review the punishments. And he also plans to wait for the Office of Special Counsel to complete its separate investigation of the matter so he can include that in his review.

The additional steps could delay the final report for weeks. An Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. John Dorrian, said there is no specific date for its completion.

Asked about the delay, Pentagon press secretary George Little said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes Donley is "proceeding prudently and deliberately." He said Panetta expects to review the final report as soon as possible.
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Army Sergeant's widow told " no one wanted my husband" before landfill toss

The pubic image of how this nation's fallen are treated has been one of dignity and honor. In the movie Taking Chance, Kevin Bacon escorted the remains of a fallen Marine, never leaving his body after he was prepared tenderly for his last journey home. The remains are prepared, uniforms are pressed before dressing and everything is done with dignity.


The right thing to do is followed by the book. Bacon wanted to honor Chance so much so that he refused to take off his uniform with going through the metal detector at the airport. He slept outside one night with the covered casket refusing to leave Chance. Bacon was upgraded to a first class seat when it the purpose of the trip was discovered. Upon landing, the pilot asked all the passengers to wait until the flag draped coffin was removed. No one complained as they watched it vanish from view.

This is what the public thinks is happening all the time. After all, treating the fallen with tenderness after they sacrificed their lives in service to this country, is the least we can do.

With roadside bombs blowing up, there are many times when body parts are blown off, mixed up with other parts from other KIA's. While we'd like to think that there is a whole body in the coffins we see, too often, there are only body parts. The men and women they served with rise above their heartache to find as much of their "brother" or "sister" as possible.

All of this goes on but the pubic never hears about it. Because family members have come forward to tell about a darker secret, we now know our image of dignity has been a delusion.

NJ widow exposes mishandling of troop remains with push for answers about her husband

By Associated Press
Saturday, December 10, 6:55 AM

FRENCHTOWN, N.J. — It took Gari-Lynn Smith more than four years to learn what happened to the final remains of her husband, an Army sergeant killed in Iraq.

The New Jersey widow never thought that knowing would be worse than not, or that her search would lead to the bottom of a landfill.

“I was told no one wanted my husband, so he was cremated with the medical waste and thrown in the trash,” Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press this week from her home.

Her quest to find the truth of what happened to her husband’s remains led to an even more disturbing revelation this week as the Air Force acknowledged it had dumped cremated partial remains of at least 274 troops into a Virginia dump — far more than previously acknowledged.

Her story, first told by The Washington Post, along with information from multiple whistleblowers about other mistreatment of fallen soldiers’ bodies became the catalyst for an investigation that found “gross mismanagement” at the Air Force’s mortuary in Dover, Del. — the first stop on American soil for fallen troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

It’s where the body of Sgt. 1st Class Scott R. Smith, a bomb-disposal technician, was flown in July 2006. Smith was killed after he stepped on a pressure plate above a roadside bomb as he worked to clear the area. Several limbs and much of his torso were lost in the explosion, his wife said.

Initially led to believe her husband’s entire body was returned, Gari-Lynn became suspicious after being told she shouldn’t ask to see the body before the closed-casket funeral. Later, she ordered copies of the autopsy and learned there were additional remains located, leading to more questions.

This spring, after years of pestering Air Force officials, she received a letter from the Dover mortuary telling her some of her husband’s body was incinerated and sent to a landfill. It closed: “I hope that this brings you some comfort in your time of loss.”
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Tampa Marine's arm sawed off to be "dressed" for funeral?

Remains of Thonotosassa soldier at center of military mortuary probe

By Jessica Vander Velde
Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, December 9, 2011

[STEPHEN J. CODDINGTON Times (2010)]
The casket of Marine Sgt. Daniel Angus, 28, arrived at MacDill Air Force Base on Feb. 4, 2010. His widow, Bonnie, second from the left, looks down at it as family members comfort each other.

TAMPA — As the family of fallen Marine Sgt. Daniel Angus mourned, strangers honored him. They held flags and saluted his casket when it passed through Tampa in a January 2010 motorcade.

Nearly two years later, the Armwood High graduate's funeral preparations are at the center of a federal investigation that concluded the U.S. Air Force has mishandled troops remains.

The Air Force dumped the cremated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill and sawed off part of Sgt. Angus' left arm without his family's permission, according to reports from the Air Force and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency.

The Air Force, while declaring an end to such practices, concluded the military did nothing wrong by removing part of the sergeant's arm so he could be dressed in uniform.

Angus' parents and sister disagree, a family attorney said. They're horrified about his "mutilation," and learning of it has led to a fresh wave of grief, attorney Mark O'Brien said.
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Iraq veteran responds after report of remains taken to landfill

Soldiers' Remains Taken To Landfill; Local Iraq War Vet Responds

By: MIKE BOWERSOCK
Published: December 08, 2011

HILLIARD, Ohio --
A local Iraqi war veteran is speaking out after learning that the remains of 274 service personnel killed in action were cremated and taken to a landfill.

"I served in Iraq in 2006 and four of my really good friends were killed and it makes my blood boil to think they may be in a landfill right now," said Daniel Hutchison, an Iraqi war veteran.

Hutchison spent 2006 and 2007 in Iraq and has written a book on his experiences. He also runs Ohio Combat Veterans, an organization based in Hilliard that helps Iraq and Afghanistan veterans transition into civilian life.

There are no reasons, he contends, no excuses, for allowing the remains of any U.S. service member to go to the dump.

"The argument can be made that it is difficult to try to identify all the pieces to bring it back home, but it's difficult to fight in a war," he said.
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Additional remains sent to landfill, Air Force acknowledges

Additional remains sent to landfill, Air Force acknowledges
By Charley Keyes and Barbara Starr, CNN Senior National Security Team
updated 4:11 PM EST, Thu December 8, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base handles remains of returning war dead
New Jersey congressman says the Pentagon should have acted faster
An earlier report found mismanagement at the mortuary
Service members' body parts incinerated, buried with medical waste

Washington (CNN) -- The Air Force is admitting Thursday that it sent more sets of military personnel remains to a Virginia landfill than it originally acknowledged.

Backtracking on initial information about how it handled the remains of American service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force now says the cremated body parts of hundreds of the fallen were burned and dumped in the landfill.

Earlier, the Air Force said only a small number of body parts had been buried in a commercial landfill and claimed it would be impossible to make a final determination of how many remains were disposed of in that manner.

The Washington Post broke the story Thursday, and the Air Force now confirms that body fragments linked to at least 274 fallen military personnel sent to the Dover Air Force Base Mortuary were cremated, incinerated and buried with medical waste. That procedure was in place between November 2003 and May 1, 2008. The Air Force also said that 1,762 body parts were never identified and also were disposed of, first by cremation, then by further incineration and then buried in a landfill.
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Dover mortuary’s treatment of Marine’s remains shocks his parents

Dover mortuary’s treatment of Marine’s remains shocks his parents

By Craig Whitlock, Published: November 12

It was after dusk one evening this month when the Marine casualty assistance officer knocked on the door of the home of Kathy and William Angus in Thonotosassa, Fla. The Marine was bearing bad news. Again.

The last time, a similar knock from the same Marine had signaled a death knell. Their son, Sgt. Daniel M. Angus, 28, married and daddy to a little girl, had been blown apart by a bomb in Afghanistan. But that was almost two years ago. What did this solemn Marine standing outside want now?
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Military mortuary flap stirs emotions

Military mortuary flap stirs emotions
By Chad Livengood and Nicole Gaudiano, Gannett
WILMINGTON, Del. – Following disclosure Tuesday that Dover mortuary employees sawed off the arm of a Marine without family permission, parents of other servicemembers who have died were split on the emotional issue of what measures are appropriate to memorialize their children.

When Chris Smith's son arrived at Dover Air Force Base in a flag-draped case, the Hornell, N.Y., man was told Marine Lance Cpl. Zachary Smith's body was not viewable. The Marine, 19, was killed Jan. 24, 2010, by a bomb in Afghanistan, which blew off one leg and badly mangled the other.

To the surprise of his grieving parents, base mortuary employees were able to make the body presentable for an open-casket funeral. "We got to observe him after being told there was nothing to observe," Chris Smith said. "You don't know how grateful I was to see my boy."


Melinda Kane, of Cherry Hill, N.J., whose son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy Kane, died Jan. 23, 2010, in an Afghan suicide bombing, said that in the case of the Marine whose limb was dismembered the family should have been informed first.

"It had to be horrible for that family to find out that their wanting to view the body ends up doing more damage," Kane said.
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Air Force morgue lost body parts from war dead

UPDATE

Mortuary officials disciplined for mishandling troops' remains
The Air Force takes action against three at Dover Air Force Base, where body parts of troops killed in Afghanistan went missing. The Office of Special Counsel questions whether the punishment is tough enough.

An Army team carries the remains of a soldier upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware last week. The mortuary there has handled most of the more than 6,000 U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade. (Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press / November 3, 2011)

By David S. Cloud, Washington Bureau
November 9, 2011
Reporting from Washington— The Air Force said Tuesday that it had disciplined three top officials at the military's main mortuary in Delaware for "gross mismanagement" after finding that they twice lost track of body parts of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan, and cut off a deceased Marine's arm bone without his family's consent.

An 18-month Air Force investigation said the three officials failed to take action "despite indications that procedures were inadequate" for tracking human remains at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary, which has handled most of the more than 6,000 U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade.

The mistakes at Dover are similar in some respects to two other scandals that have rocked the military in recent years.

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Air Force morgue lost body parts from war dead
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 8, 2011 12:51:56 EST

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has asked for a separate investigation.

The Air Force determined that the mortuary’s top leadership failed over time to respond to clear signs of weakness in accounting for human remains — a task the Air Force says it considers one of its most solemn duties.

Two of the three officials who were punished are still work at Dover but not in supervisory jobs. None was fired.

WASHINGTON — The Air Force mortuary that receives America’s war dead and prepares them for burial lost portions of human remains twice in 2009, prompting the Air Force to discipline three senior officials for “gross mismanagement.”

A year-long Air Force investigation reviewed 14 sets of allegations of improper handling of war remains as reported by three whistleblower workers at Dover Air Force Base, Del. That is where all war dead are received from foreign battlefields to be identified, autopsied and prepared for transfer to their families.

The Air Force inspector general concluded that no laws or regulations had been violated, as alleged, but an independent agency that reviewed the probe said the Air Force failed to accept accountability for its mistakes.
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SEALs killed in Afghanistan chopper crash lived in secrecy

SEALs killed in Afghanistan chopper crash lived in secrecy
The SEALs' veil is lifted, if slightly, after the deaths of 17, along with 13 other Americans, in the helicopter downing. Some family members publicly praise the men's bravery, but much of the sorrow unfolds in private.

By Brian Bennett, Tony Perry and Ashley Powers
August 9, 2011, 9:26 p.m.
Their heroics are conducted, and celebrated, in secrecy. Their deaths are typically mourned the same way.

They are members of the famed U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. Sometimes, they're known simply as Seal Team 6.

When they are killed, no public announcements are made in their hometowns. No impromptu shrines pop up in frontyards. No crowds line the streets to greet their flag-draped caskets.

Members of the elite Seal Team 6 carry out some of the military's riskiest operations, including the May raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which Osama bin Laden was killed. But there is no expectation of public adulation — in life or in death.


Some family members publicly praised the bravery of their husbands and sons, but much of their sorrow unfolded outside the media glare, just as the men's lives had. One SEAL wife, for example, quickly removed the hundreds of condolences that friends had posted on her Facebook page.

When President Obama spent more than an hour Tuesday offering condolences to 250 family members and troops at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, there were no reporters present.
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SEALs killed in Afghanistan chopper crash lived in secrecy

For some of their stories go here
Some troops killed names released

Willits mourns Navy SEAL killed in downed copter

Vivian Ho, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

WILLITS (MENDOCINO COUNTY) -- Friends and family members are mourning a former state firefighter from the Mendocino County city of Willits who was killed Saturday when insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan, killing 38 people onboard.

Jesse Pittman, a 27-year-old Navy SEAL, joined the military after working two seasons for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, where his father, Terry Pittman, also works, said his former supervisor, Battalion Chief Norm Brown.

Friends were surprised when Jesse Pittman, a 2002 graduate of Willits High School, told them he wanted to become a SEAL, said his friend Chris Wilkes, 35. But no one doubted he could complete the training.

Read more: Willits mourns Navy SEAL killed in downed copter

Obama attends transfer of service members' remains from downed copter

Obama attends transfer of service members' remains from downed copter
From Larry Shaughnessy, CNN
August 9, 2011 5:13 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: All the remains are "unidentifiable" for now, an official says
President Obama pays his respects and visits with family members
Sources say Defense Secretary Panetta is asked not to identify slain SEALS
The remains of the 38 U.S. and Afghan personnel killed arrive in Delaware

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama and top Pentagon officials including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen attended Tuesday's dignified transfer of the remains of 38 U.S. and Afghan personnel killed on board a helicopter shot down in Afghanistan over the weekend.
Obama boarded both of the planes that transported the remains to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to pay his respects, and later joined Panetta, Mullen and U.S. Special Operations Commander Adm. William McRaven in meeting with more than 200 family members and colleagues of the slain service members at a building on the air base, according to background information provided by White House staff members accompanying the president on the trip.
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Obama attends transfer of service members remains from downed copter

Bodies of 30 killed in Afghanistan return to Dover Air Force Base

Remains of troops come home shrouded in secrecy
Officials debate whether to release names of 30 troops killed in Chinook crash
By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Aug 9, 2011 12:43:54 EDT
WASHINGTON — Troops killed in the deadliest incident of the Afghan war came home Tuesday — traveling in death much the same way they did in life — shrouded in secrecy.

Two C-17 aircraft carrying the remains of 30 killed in a weekend helicopter crash arrived late in the morning at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the Pentagon said.

But three days after the downing of the aircraft by insurgents, Defense Department leaders were still debating whether to release their names, several senior officials said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
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Remains of troops come home shrouded in secrecy

Forces in Afghanistan kill militants involved in downing of copter
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 10, 2011
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The IDs of the 30 U.S. service members killed will be released soon
The aircraft used in Monday's strike was the F-16, but it's not clear how many were involved
The airstrike killed a Taliban leader and the insurgent who fired on the copter, ISAF says
ISAF troops followed them into woods, called for strike; Taliban associates were also killed


Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Coalition forces in Afghanistan have killed the Taliban insurgents responsible for the downing of a helicopter that left 38 U.S. and Afghan personnel dead, the commander of U.S. forces there and NATO announced Wednesday.

A precision airstrike killed Mullah Mohibullah -- a Taliban leader -- and the insurgent who fired what's believed to be the rocket-propelled grenade that brought down the helicopter, according to Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Several of their Taliban associates were also killed, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.
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Fallen soldier returns home as "everyone's son"

A fallen hero becomes everyone's son when he returns home for the final time
By GREG JAFFE The Washington Post

Publication: The Day

Many in Woodstown, never knew the soldier killed in Afghanistan; but for a few moments, they pause their lives to think of him - and that distant war

Woodstown, N.J. - The silver hearse rolls out the main gate of Dover Air Force Base, where America's war dead return to U.S. soil.

"He's coming," yells John Davis, a 73-year-old retired electrician and Vietnam veteran. He and about 20 other bikers scramble for their Harleys.

Davis has a droopy gray mustache, a small soul patch and trifocals. He swings an artificial knee over his bike, drapes an ice pack over the nape of his neck and fires up his black motorcycle. The bikers pair off, forming a line leading away from the base. The hearse falls in behind them.

At 1:15 p.m., the convoy is heading north on Route 1 out of Delaware, toward the soldier's home town. The guttural rumble of the Harleys, softened by the hum of highway traffic, fills the air.
Most of the bikers don't even know the name of the soldier in the hearse.

Sixty miles away, in Woodstown, N.J., the three local employees of the John M. Glover Insurance Agency wonder why the police have posted temporary "no parking" signs on South Main Street. They check the borough of Woodstown's Web site to see whether there are plans to trim the trees in town. Then they notice the firemen hanging a big American flag between the ladders of their two trucks.

One of the agency employees, William Seddon, calls his son, a volunteer firefighter, to ask what is happening.

"The body of a soldier is going to come down the street later in the afternoon," his son tells him.

A fallen hero becomes everyone son