Ceremony honors 54 repatriated Americans

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Chris Sukach
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AFRNS) --  The remains of 52 infants and two adults who were Air Force family members were laid to rest during a recent 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, near the former Wheelus Air Base.

Family members of Airmen stationed at Wheelus AB, which the U.S. operated from about the mid 1940s to the early 1970s, were often buried in the cemetery. 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, 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.

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

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 Dover AFB's Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs where they were held while officials exhausted all efforts to contact the families to make final disposition arrangements.

In June, Air Force retirees were asked to contact the Air Force Mortuary Office if they had, or know someone who had, family who might have been buried at Wheelus Air Base, Libya.

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.

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; however, they 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.

Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Ronald Harvell, the 436th Airlift Wing chief chaplain; Chaplain (Capt.) Robert Roffman, an individual mobilization augmentee assigned to the 436th AW; and Father Michael Darcy, assistant pastor of Saint Ann's Catholic Parish in 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.

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