"This latest revelation demonstrates, yet again, that Arlington National Cemetery has suffered from a lack of oversight in its operations," Peter Gaytan, executive director of the American Legion in Washington, said in a statement to AOL News.
Karen Bleier, AFP / Getty Images
The Army is investigating the recent discovery of eight urns containing cremated remains found in a grave site marked "unknown" at Arlington National Cemetery.
On Thursday, the Army opened a criminal investigation into the recent discovery of eight urns containing cremated remains found in a grave site marked "unknown," The Washington Post reported.
According to cemetery spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst, officials learned of the problem in October.
"The executive director of the Army National Cemeteries Program, Kathryn Condon, became aware of questionable practices ... and requested that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command open an investigation. ... Cemetery records reflected there was only one set of cremated remains interred in that location," Horst said in a statement cited by Washington's WTOP 103.5 FM.
According to Horst, a forensic anthropologist helped identify three sets of cremated remains. Officials are now in the process of notifying the families. One set of cremated remains could not be positively identified and was re-interred in the original grave site marked with an "unknown" headstone.
Criminal Investigation Command special agents are still attempting to identify the other sets of cremated remains.
The most recent probe into the cemetery comes less than a year after a scathing report by the Army's inspector general, Lt. Gen. Steven Whitcomb, revealed dysfunctional management, a lack of established policies and procedures, an unhealthy workplace climate and gaps in record keeping and accountability that led to at least 211 discrepancies between burial maps and grave sites.
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Christopher Grey, a spokesman for the army Criminal Investigation Command, has acknowledged that previous problems might have been accidental, but said he is questioning whether this most recent case was truly a mistake."When there's eight sets of human remains in one grave, it's most likely not a mistake, so we have to look into whether there is any criminality involved," Grey told USA Today.
Gaytan is also questioning how the soldiers' remains could have ended up in a single plot.
"It's unbelievable that someone working at one of America's most hallowed grounds would do something like this on purpose," he said. "But the Army investigation seems to be ruling it out as a mistake. Mistakes we can understand. Willfully disrespecting our fallen warriors by hiding eight remains in an 'unknown' grave is despicable."