On August 15th, 2005, my
brother, Sgt. Paul A. Saylor of
the 48th Brigade, 108th Scout Division lost his life while
fighting for our country in Iraq. A HUMVEE he was in accidentally
rolled off the road and fell down an embankment into a canal.
He was knocked unconscious and drowned. Paul was 21. He was, is,
and always will be a hero like every other soldier fighting for
America. Upon his return home my family was told that my brother's
body would not be viewable. We were told
he was non-viewable due to injuries sustained from
the accident. This was not true. We asked our
funeral director to open Paul's casket and see if there
was any way we could view him to say our last goodbyes.
He
notified us that there was no way
he could repair or cover the damage done
to Paul
due to neglect and no refrigeration. Paul
was non-viewable not because of injuries he sustained, but because
our United States Army failed to care for his body. There have been
recent instances in which the Army has failed to give our fallen
heroes the honor they deserve in arriving at their final resting place,
such as not having proper military escorts at airports, but this goes
much deeper. In truth, upon his death my brother's body was left to
rot like a dead animal on the side of the road.
My family has talked and met with Army officials many times. At the
formal investigation meetings, despite the fact that our questions
on the treatment of Paul's body were made known prior to each meeting,
the Army representatives failed to even acknowledge the question as
to why a fallen hero's body would come back in such stages of decomposition
as to be unrecognizable after such a short period of time (3 days).
The Army continues to
investigate why my brother returned home in such deplorable condition.
My brother, a hero, was neglected by the very institution he
served.
Has the Army failed to give any more of our now over 2,200 fallen
soldiers a proper, much less heroic, homecoming? This must stop. The
funeral home director who helped us has received bodies from Vietnam
and WW II and said they were received in much better shape than my
brother and their families were able to say their final goodbyes.
He believes this is the first conflict in which our fallen soldiers
have not been prepared (embalmed) while overseas.
On September 20th we met with Army representatives, one of which is
from the brand new 30 million dollar mortuary facility in Dover. When
we questioned the reason a proper mortuary facility was not in place
in Iraq we were told it was debated and the decision was made to bring
the fallen to Dover for preparation. While the facility is state of
the art, safe in the United States complete with an indoor reflection
pool, it doesn't do much good to the fallen heroes who are decomposing
in Iraq due to the lack of proper facilities there (such as refrigeration).
There is talk of how much care is taken by the Army in such courtesies
as the placing of uniforms on top of those who have fallen while in
action, but what good is this if the bodies under those uniforms are
left to rot? Before presenting my brother's uniform to my mother,
the funeral director had to remove the uniform and have it dry cleaned
due to the smell and seepage because of the "care" he was
given prior to his arrival home. Many times we as Americans lightly
and loosely use words like freedom and patriot, but now is a chance
for you to help our most patriotic in making sure that the Army policies
for the handling of our fallen soldier's remains are changed for the
better. The Army should have proper mortuary facilities in Iraq to
prepare our fallen loved ones. When we asked why there are no proper
facilities in Iraq, we were told by an army representative the following
reasons: it would hurt troop morale; there is not enough manpower;
and cost. How would troop morale be if they found out how their Brothers
and Sisters in Arms were being treated after their deaths? There are
certified funeral directors and morticians eager to volunteer to help
our troops. There may even be some in our Army's brand new 30 million
dollar complex that want to "volunteer" to help their Brothers
in Arms. Finally, an embalming machine cost is between 2,000-2,500
dollars. This cost is much less than letting one more of our troops
be disgraced by their own.
No other soldier should be done like this, and no other family should
have to go through this. Please help, by placing your name on the
online petition
on this website, and by going to the link www.congress.org,
finding your government representative's address, and letting them
know that you will not stand for this disrespect to be done to one
more American hero. Please help. Our fallen heroes deserve better!
