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Army secretary orders Arlington Cemetery probe

Secretary of the Army John McHugh announced Friday that he has ordered an investigation into allegations of lost accountability of some graves, poor record keeping and other issues at Arlington National Cemetery.

“As the final resting place of our nation’s heroes, any questions about the integrity or accountability of [the cemetery’s] operations should be examined in a matter befitting their service and sacrifice,” McHugh said after signing an order directing the Army Inspector General to begin investigating allegations regarding cemetery operations.

McHugh’s order comes amid revelations that cemetery workers inadvertently buried cremated remains at a gravesite that was already in use. The error was discovered in May 2008 and cemetery officials took immediate corrective measures, moving the cremated remains to another gravesite and remarking the original grave.

Since then, questions have been raised over whether cemetery officials used proper procedures to correct the mistake, including notifying the next of kin.

The investigation ordered by McHugh follows a separate internal investigation by the Military District of Washington over the discovery of an unmarked grave.

“Cemetery records, the MDW investigation and the non-invasive geophysical analysis of the gravesites strongly indicate that a husband and wife, who died years apart and should have been buried in the same gravesite, were instead buried in adjacent graves,” MDW spokesman Col. Dan Baggio said in a statement.

New grave markers have been ordered for the site, and the couple’s family members have decided against exhuming the remains and conducting DNA tests.

The unmarked grave was first discovered in 2003 but cemetery officials took no action until this year. McHugh is now directing the IG to examine accountability and policy issues in that case. The IG also is in the middle of a management review of the cemetery, started under McHugh’s predecessor Pete Geren, to make overall recommendations on how to better operate the facility.

“A thorough investigation and transparency in its results can help correct whatever may be wrong and ensure America’s confidence in the operation of its most hallowed ground,” McHugh said in a statement. “We will take appropriate action as the facts dictate.”

A PDF copy of the Article 15-6 investigation by MDW is available by clicking here.

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