Ceremony honors 54 repatriated Americans

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Chris Sukach
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AFPN) --  The remains of 52 infants and two adults were laid to rest in an Aug. 24 ceremony at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Millsboro.

The ceremony marked the end of a journey that began at Hammangi Cemetery, an Italian cemetery located in Tripoli, Libya.

Family members of Airmen stationed at nearby Wheelus Air Base, which the U.S. operated from about 1958 to 1972, were often buried in the cemetery because at that time servicemembers did not receive entitlements to have the remains of their loved ones flown back to the U.S. for burial, said Mark Blair, the chief of Air Force Mortuary Affairs. 

"For the infants, it's the first time they've been on American soil," said Arthur Myers, the director of Air Force Services who spoke at the ceremony.

Air Force officials worked in conjunction with the State Department, the Libyan government, Delaware state officials and members of the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs to bring these Americans to their final resting place at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Mr. Myers said.

Seventy-two American citizens -- two adults and 70 stillborn or premature infants buried in Hammangi Cemetery between 1956 to 1970 -- were repatriated to the U.S. this spring after changes regarding that cemetery were announced, Mr. Blair said.

"The cemetery was being renovated and downsized, so had we not recovered the remains, we would have lost all accounting for them," he said.

According to officials, the records and grave markers of Hammangi Cemetery led Air Force officials to know the exact location and identity of each family member interred there.

An Air Force Services Mortuary Team, led by Mr. Blair, went to Libya and exhumed the remains, taking care to maintain the individual identity of each set of remains throughout the transfer process. The team brought the remains to the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base, where they were held while officials exhausted all efforts to contact the families to make final disposition arrangements.

Of the 72 remains that were repatriated, the families of 18 of those chose to have their loved ones interred in various locations. Air Force officials were present for each of those interments, Mr. Blair said.

However, because of the amount of time that had transpired between the original interment and the repatriation, Air Force officials were unable to make contact with every family, but were able to work with Delaware state officials and the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs to have those remaining interred in the cemetery at Millsboro.

"On behalf of Governor Ruth Ann Minner, I am very honored that the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery is the final resting place for these Americans," said Harriet Smith Windsor, the Delaware secretary of state. "Today is the culmination of a lot of hard work and coordination, especially on the part of Tony Davila, the director of the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs, and the Air Force."

Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Ronald Harvell, the 436th Airlift Wing chief chaplain, Chaplain (Capt.) Robert Roffman, an individual mobilization augmentee assigned to the 436th Airlift Wing, and Father Michael Darcy, assistant pastor of Saint Ann's Catholic Parish, Bethany Beach, Del., provided Protestant, Jewish and Catholic prayers, respectively, at the ceremony. The clergy members represented and provided for the particular religious needs for the internment of each of the 54 repatriated Americans during the ceremony.

"Today, as members of the Department of Defense, Delawareans and as fellow Americans, we acknowledge that these 54 Americans are part of our family and we claim them as ours," Chaplain Harvell said.

(Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs, contributed to this article.)

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