P-MAN XI Update #24 - Military escorts, and Doing The Right Thing
10 March 2009

A brief drama for us over the past couple of days involves a scenario that relates to repatriation of MIA remains that are recovered and identified by JPAC. When a fallen WWII service member's remains are identified and if his or her family members can be located, the family is supposed to have a say in the decision about where the remains are buried. There are often memorial services, sometimes formal funerals; sometimes the remains stay in Hawaii and are buried at the Punch Bowl cemetery, sometimes they're returned to Arlington, and sometimes they go to the family in the person's home town, to be interred at a family cemetery.

But there's also the question of exactly how the remains are returned. A military escort from JPAC to the place of interment is a likely choice. When that's the choice, the next question is who wil be the escort. Here's where there's a difference between service members who died 60 years ago and those who are returning from current conflicts: the rules are pretty clear (although not always 100% inviolable) in stating that the escort should be a member of the same service (Army, Navy, Marines) as the deceased member. The rules are evidently not so clear when the returning service member died over six decades ago.

Most of the regular readers of this Web site have become familiar over the past several years with Tommy and Nancy Doyle, from Snyder Texas. Tommy's dad, Jimmie, was in the Army Air Force - aboard B-24 '453 when it was shot down in Palau on 1 September 1944. JPAC conducted three recovery missions at that underwater B-24 crash site between 2004 and 2008, and they recovered several sets of remains. Tommy and Nancy were finally officially notified a couple of weeks ago that Jimmie's remains have been positively identified, and he will soon be coming home.

The drama to which I referred above involves some details about the military escort. See, Tommy and Nancy have a son, Casey, who is an active-duty U.S. Marine. Casey has recently returned from a tour in Iraq and is stationed at NAS Corpus Christi. Can you think of any person on the planet who would be a more perfect choice as Jimmie's escort from JPAC back to his home town than his grandson? IN HIS MARINE UNIFORM?

Me neither.

But ah, bureaucracy...

Someone - probably someone more familiar with current casualties than sixty-year-old ones - looked in the rule book and decided that although Casey could be the escort, he couldn't wear his Marine uniform during the conduct of this solemn mission. Because ... uh ... Casey is a Marine, and his grandfather was Army. Army Air Force, to be specific.

What the .... ?

Ahem.

If you noticed a decrease in your Internet bandwidth over the past couple of days, it might be related to the flurry of BentProp e-mail exchanges and positioning that began on behalf of this cause.Many of us started looking up phone numbers and addresses of folks like former and current presidents of sovereign nations (like maybe Palau), state governors, members of congress, current and retired senior members of the military, heavy hitters in the news media, and so on, and started drafting verbal and written arguments to support the cause of Casey wearing his Marine uniform to bring Jimmie home.

Righteous indignation can really set lots of people's hair on fire. Mine, too, if I had any.

Okay, everybody: take a deep breath. It looks like this issue resulted from a misunderstanding of the level of flexibility allowed in interpreting the rules, as you'll see below. And Nancy didn't need any help from us - her intense letter-writing did the trick.

Lesson learned? Stick to your guns, fight for your cause, and there's a good chance that Right and Reason will prevail:

From the Doyles to the Army

"...We find a regulation disallowing Casey to wear his Marine uniform to escort his grandfather's remains home totally ridiculous. We have been told numerous times that Casey could be the official military escort. Being "military" means wearing the uniform. Jimmie may have been U.S. Army Air Force while Casey is U.S. Marine. But you notice they are both U.S. military.

"...you offered to help in any way possible...you told us your office would communicate with the Marine Casualty Office to work out the arrangements for Casey to be the escort. You guys can do this. Moreover, we expect this to happen.

"Casey's being the official military escort (and in dress uniform) is what Casey wants, what we want, and what Jimmie's wife would want. This is a little thing for the Army but a big thing for the family. Please get this done.

"Let us hear from you on this matter.

"Sincerely and Respectfully,

"Tommy and Nancy Doyle"

The Army's reply to the Doyles

"...The primary focus of the regulation is for active duty to ensure a same-service matching of escorts to escorted; your situation is different and deserves a different review. I’ve been an administrative officer for almost 25 years and the one tenet that I know to be true is that there is an exception (or different reading) for just about everything.

"Tell Casey to wear his uniform with pride – the Red/Blue “dress” uniform that the Army calls its “Class A’s”. I still need to contact JPAC to eliminate any surprise factors for a Marine escorting a Soldier, but I believe Johnnie Webb (also included in the cc line) will be able to help with this detail."

Excellent response! So it appears that Casey will be accompanying his grandfather home - in dress uniform. MARINE dress uniform.

Semper Fi.

- Reid

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