Mortician defends John Glenn work

DOVER, Del. — As Air Force officials investigate allegations that inspectors were invited to view the remains of astronaut and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn at Dover Air Force Base, a military mortuary chief said Friday that Glenn’s remains were treated with “impeccable care.”

“He was not disrespected in any way, shape or form,” William Zwicharowski said.

Zwicharowski said he’s proud of the job he and his staff did in caring for Glenn’s remains during the months between his death in December and his burial at Arlington National Cemetery in April.

Air Force officials are investigating concerns raised about management of the mortuary and allegations that inspectors who visited the facility this spring were invited to look at Glenn’s remains, which they declined to do.

Despite repeated requests, the Defense Department on Friday refused to release a memo describing the allegations.

Zwicharowski said he also hasn’t seen the memo or the final report on the inspection, which the mortuary passed with a score of 94 percent.

Zwicharowski also said he has had no access to the mortuary since Monday, when he was notified that he was under an inspector general’s investigation.

Zwicharowski acknowledged asking inspectors if they wanted to view Glenn’s body but said it was a purely professional query.

“It was an honest invitation to see the quality of our preparation of remains. It wasn’t to see John Glenn. If it was John Smith, Private, it didn’t matter … It was to see the care that we had given and the preservation.”

“They’re inspecting the mortuary, and probably 80 or 90 percent of our mission is the preparation of remains …,” he added. “If it was Private Smith, it would never have been an issue. We treat everyone the same in the mortuary. We pride ourselves on that. We don’t care if you’re a janitor or a general.”