Army Spc Justin Coleman Returns Home

Hundreds says goodbye as Army Spc. Justin Dean Coleman is laid to rest at Florida National Cemetery

As the doors of the hearse opened, revealing the flag-draped casket, a warm August wind caused the American flags at Florida National Cemetery to stand at attention.

A bagpiper heralded the arrival with Amazing Grace, and military pallbearers wheeled Army Spc. Justin Dean Coleman's casket along the crushed seashell sidewalk, the family trailing behind.

More than 200 mourners placed hands to hearts or stiff salutes to sweaty brows.

A prayer. Three volleys. Taps. And a folded flag for Spc. Coleman's young widow, his mother and his father...........Rest Here

Coming Home

NPR: WBUR's Here and Now

The bodies of five British service men are driven though Wootton Bassett, England, Friday, July, 10, 2009. (AP)

How should we honor the military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan? In the US, their bodies are returned to Dover Air Force Base. President Obama has lifted the ban on media coverage, if the families of the fallen approve. Those ceremonies are quiet and often attended by just a few people. But in Britain, thousands of people are turning out in the village of Wootton Bassett to greet the dead soldiers. We speak to USA Today reporter Rick Hampson, who recently wrote about the return of two Americans – Army privates Aaron Fairburn and Justin Casillas. We also speak to Allison Bucknell, a member of the local town council in Wootton Bassett, England.

You can listen in to this Discussion: Link brings up the player

Dignified transfer for the Fallen

The bodies of U.S. soldiers killed while serving in Afghanistan arrive at Dover Air Force Base July 8, 2009.



The service members are: Army Capt. Mark A. Garner of State Road, N.C.; Army Pfc. Nicolas H.J. Gideon of Murrieta, Calif.; Army Spc. Isaac L. Johnson of Columbus, Ga.; Army Sgt. Brock H. Chavers of Bulloch, Ga.; Navy Petty Officer Second Class Tony Michael Randolph of Henryetta, Okla.; Army Spc. Chester W. Hosford of Hastings, Minn.; and Army 2nd Lt. Derwin I. Williams of Glenwood, Ill.

Dover 'Old Guard': Honoring the Fallen

Dover 'Old Guard' team shoulders heavy burden

Honoring the Fallen

The return of the body of a U.S. servicemember was opened in April to the media for the first time since 1991.

Staff Sgt. Cody Reeves has survived harrowing conditions and stared down enemies on the battlefield during two tours in the military hotspots of Iraq. Now he is stationed near Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, trained to carry the remains of fellow soldiers who perished in that same conflict. Before,"it was all about catching the bad guy," Reeves said. "When you come here, it's all about honoring your brothers who are fallen for catching the bad guys, for their service."....Rest Here

Source: CNN | Added May 23, 2009

First Photos of Fallen Soldier Ends 18-Year Ban

An airman stands next to the coffin containing the body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers as it is lowered from a plane upon its return to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware April 5, 2009. Myers, of Hopewell, Virginia, died April 4 near Helmand province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device. For the first time since the Obama administration reversed an 18-year-old ban on news coverage of returning fallen soldiers, the military allowed media to cover to cover the arrival tonight of an airman killed in Afghanistan. Collapse
(Joshua Roberts/REUTERS)

I wish to thank the families who allowed the press photo's showing the respect the fallen receive and the real cost of war!!

We serve the Nation, not just the families nor communities, a Nation that does little in Sacrifice!!

Pentagon to Allow Some Media Coverage of Flag Draped Coffins

According to a 'Breaking' banner report, at the top of the MSNBC News site this is just out from the AP!!

I've done a quick search, and boy do I not like the AP site, looking for anything else on this but can't find a thing. Except a few of the recent articles and discussions.

I'll look around for some more information and post it.

A link came up three minutes, now slightly more, ago:

Pentagon to allow photos of returning war victims' caskets

Defense and congressional officials say news organizations will be allowed to photograph the homecomings of America’s war dead under a new Pentagon policy.

According to this brief announcement it says that Gates will be announcing the policy change later today, 2.26.09!!

The Video Report Of From MSNBC

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

As part of one reply to a post I placed a few days ago:

""The private part probably is best handled at the memorial service or funeral if the family wishes, not at the arrival at Dover.""

This is always how it should be. We, myself 'Nam '70-'71, serve the Country and Constitution, a solemn viewing, In Honor, should be the Nations right when the Fallen Arrive at Dover, the rest is the Family and Community.
We have Arrival Ceremonies for those groups returning, and we readily show, even National, the Heartwarming Surprise returns to children's classrooms etc..

The Fallen Deserve To Be Treated In The Same Respect!!

This is, and always has been, a Non Issue

Those who Serve the Country Serve the Whole Country and Thus Should Be Given the 'Honor' and 'Respect' Due Them when Returned to this soil after Dying during that Service!!

There are some groups of people who welcome home the returning soldiers in airports and other transportation points.

We organize rallies for the families and communities on the return of locally based Units of the Reserves, National Guard, and on Army and Marine bases.

We have returning men and women soldiers surprising their young children, and school classmates, and we readily show these surprise homecomings while we watch them with the same tears of joy as the kids.

Some will give a "Welcome Home" and a Handshake when meeting soldiers wherever.

Yet we seem to think that there is supposed to be some sort of Debate about 'Honoring with Due Respect' those who return to this country in Flag Drapped Coffins when they are killed Serving The Whole Country, as their Coffins are brought in Quietly and In The Dark of our Media and Citizens. Than the Country, far in the future, Debates wether Memorials should be built and what they should look like.

We should Honor our Fallen as to their Total Sacrifice of their Service, however right or wrong the policies causing their deaths!

Coffins’ Arrival From War Becomes an Issue Again

Those two aspects of the review may well yield opposing perspectives. Britain and Canada, two important allies in the war in Afghanistan, allow far more news media access to the repatriation process — the return of a fallen soldier to his or her country — than does the United States.

The new review has revived an old debate. Supporters of the ban say it protects families’ privacy and keeps the deaths from becoming politicized; critics say the government is trying to sanitize the wars and reduce public awareness of their human cost.

As Of February 22nd, 2009, There Are 91 Pages w/5 'Silent Honor Rolls' Each, Number Of KIA's Varies With Each 'Silent Honor Roll';
Many now have numbers in the teens and twenties
In Honor - In Memory


This Is Not nor Should Be Debatable, it Should Be Policy!!

Tammy and Barack: Veterans Day 2008

Obama marks Veterans Day with wreath-laying
After brief appearance, president-elect to huddle on transition with aides

President-elect Barack Obama and Iraqi war veteran and Illinois State Director of Veterans Affairs, Tammy Duckworth, place a wreath at The Bronze Soldiers Memorial in honor of Veteran's Day on the Lakefront in Chicago, Illinois.

Sen. Joe Biden - Dover Airbase - KIA's

Back a few years ago I went Absolutely Livid, have many many.................... times from the first beat of the War Drums, this time while watching the CBS 'Face the Nation' Sunday show. While the blood had rushed to my head I waited, impatiently, for the transcript to come up on their site. When it finally did, I quickly copied and pasted it to an e-mail and sent it out, but that didn't quell the Absolute Rage. I wanted more who hadn't seen it to get as Pissed as myself so I tried thinking of online News outlets, some just coming into being, to further trying to get this report out to as many eyes and minds as possible, one was a fairly new outlet, the Huffington Post. A few hours later, to my surprise, and still Royally Pissed at what was reported, I receive an E from the Huffington Post that they were going to run with it, saw very little that day and ensuing days from the MSM about this incident as told by Senator Biden to Bob Schieffer.


Huffington posted it on June 20, 2005 at 10:11 PM {you gotta love google, I didn't keep the story, but a quick search and there it was}


Sen. Biden: 'I'm Not Allowed To Be There When The Flag-Draped Casket Comes In' ...

On CBS News's "Face the Nation" yesterday, Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) told Bob Schieffer that the Defense Department policy forbids him from paying his respects to fallen soldiers as their coffins return to the US through the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Though no cameras and no press would accompany him, Biden said he had to receive express permission from the Pentagon to join a grieving family that had requested his presence as they met their deceased son who died in a car bomb in Iraq.

"I'm allowed in the military base. I'm not allowed to go to the mortuary," he said.

The CBS Transcript of that show in PDF, they don't have that video clip in their archives.

You can just Bet Joe hasn't forgotten this incident nor the Parents of the Soldier returning in Flag Drapped Coffin!


The transcript follows the above at the link. Just did a quick search at the CBS 'Face the Nation' site but couldn't find it, maybe someone else can have better luck, or as I just woke a short time ago a few more cups of java may kick in and I'll try abit later to see if there's a video somewhere, don't think I knew how to grab them than.


Also now that Senator Bidens on the ticket you all might want to get to know his wife, what little I know and just read, she looks like a great fit with Michelle Obama working together on interests they are involved in.


The women behind the man running:

I can't wait until America gets to know Jill Biden. As down to earth and serious about education as they come. She's a working mom like many others around the country.

Biden is an English professor at the Delaware Technical and Community College. Professionally she has been a reading specialist, an English high school teacher and a teacher in a mental health institution.

This looks like a Win Win ticket, but if you want Change that will Only Come About From Us and Making Sure Those Who Represent Hear and Heed the Direction To Change!!


"American Prayer"


Dave Stewart, Exclusive Premiere: An Anthem For Change

Iraq Veterans Memorial

Gold Star Families Speak Out · Military Families Speak Out · Iraq Veterans Against the War
North Texas Vets · Veterans for Peace · Soldiers of Today and Yesterday
GI Special · United for Peace and Justice · Brave New Foundation

Inspired by the AIDS Quilt, the Vietnam memorial, and the New York Times biographies of the 9/11 victims, Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation, in partnership with numerous Iraq veterans groups, are creating a living online memorial to U.S. soldiers killed during the Iraq war. The Iraq Veterans Memorial will bear witness with the video testimonies of family, friends, co-workers, and military colleagues of those lost.

It will be unveiled on March 19th, 2007 all across the internet.

Contribute your video testimonial | Host video memorial on your site March 19th

A project of the Brave New Foundation / Email: Iraq Memorial