> Hiding Our War Dead. Italy Publicly Honors Its War Dead, America Hides Its Dead
27 March 2005, 15:04
PENTAGON DENIES MOTHER’S PLEA FOR PHOTO
“A single red rose in hand, Karen Meredith leans over her son’s simple white stone marker at Arlington National Cemetery.
Tears fall before words.
It’s her first visit since she buried 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, a fourth generation soldier, last fall.
Still fresh, like the soil churned behind her son’s grave for another row of dead, is her anger. Anger at the way the Pentagon refused her sole wish when her son was killed by a sniper last May to photograph his casket returning from Iraq.
Meredith wanted to capture the way fellow soldiers respectfully draped the American flag across the casket, tucking the sides just so, and the way an honor guard watched over him as he was unloaded from a cargo plane.
But the Pentagon firmly said ‘no.’ It was against regulations and would violate the privacy of family members of other slain soldiers.
‘It’s dishonorable and disrespectful to the families,’ said Meredith. ‘They say it’s for privacy, but it’s really because they don’t want the country to see how many people are coming back in caskets.’"
PENTAGON DENIES MOTHER’S PLEA FOR PHOTO
“A single red rose in hand, Karen Meredith leans over her son’s simple white stone marker at Arlington National Cemetery.
Tears fall before words.
It’s her first visit since she buried 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, a fourth generation soldier, last fall.
Still fresh, like the soil churned behind her son’s grave for another row of dead, is her anger. Anger at the way the Pentagon refused her sole wish when her son was killed by a sniper last May to photograph his casket returning from Iraq.
Meredith wanted to capture the way fellow soldiers respectfully draped the American flag across the casket, tucking the sides just so, and the way an honor guard watched over him as he was unloaded from a cargo plane.
But the Pentagon firmly said ‘no.’ It was against regulations and would violate the privacy of family members of other slain soldiers.
‘It’s dishonorable and disrespectful to the families,’ said Meredith. ‘They say it’s for privacy, but it’s really because they don’t want the country to see how many people are coming back in caskets.’"
From “The Barre Montpelier Times Argus, “ March 24, 2005.
More at: http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050324/NEWS/503240308/1002/NEWS01