Care of John Glenn’s body rekindles mortuary scandal
A scandal involving the care of astronaut John Glenn’s body at the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware has rekindled controversy over the main receiving point for the bodies of U.S. troops killed overseas.
On Monday, the Air Force re a s s i g n e d t h e mor t u a r y branch chief at Dover and opened an investigation into whether he improperly offered to allow a team of inspectors to view the embalmed corpse of the former Ohio senator, the first American to orbit the Earth.
Glenn, 95, died Dec. 6 in Ohio. But his widow, Annie, wanted to wait until April 6, the couple’s wedding anniversary, to bury the former Marine pi l ot a t Arl i ng t on National Cemetery. So his body was transferred to the Dover mortuary, near Washington, for safekeeping.
In early March, Pentagon inspectors were visiting the mortuary when the branch chief, William Zwicharowski, asked if they wanted to view Glenn’s body. Military officials said the inspectors were shocked by the offer, which they declined but reported up the chain of command as a breach of protocol.
The Air Force inspector general is now investigating the incident and other unspecified management practices at the mortuary, officials said.
The investigation revives painful memories of a 2011 scandal that involved missing body parts, a mutilated corpse and other systemic problems at the mortuary.
That scandal was exposed by four whistleblowers who were disciplined or fired by commanders at Dover for reporting the troubles. One of those whistleblowers was Zwicharowski — who said Friday that the investigation into the Glenn incident was another attempt by higher-ups in the Air Force to punish him for speaking out.
“I h ave a t a r ge t o n my back,” he said. “It’s continued retaliation.”
Zwicharowski said he did nothing improper by offering to let the inspectors view Glenn’s remains. He said his staff had further embalmed the body bec ause Glenn’s funeral was still weeks away and he wanted to show the inspectors their techniques.
“I was proud of the job we did and wanted them to see our care and work,” he said. “After all, that was what we were being inspected for.”
Air Force officials denied they were retaliating against Zwicharowski but declined to comment in detail about the investigation, citing privacy concerns.
“T h e A i r F o r c e t a k e s extremely seriously its responsibility to fulfill the nation’s sacred commitment of ensuring dignity, honor and respect to the fallen and care, service and support to their families,” the service said in a statement.