John Glenn’s body rekindles military mortuary scandal
A scandal involving the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, the main point of entry for U.S. troops killed overseas, has rekindled with controversy over the care of astronaut John Glenn’s body.
On Monday, the Air Force reassigned the mortuary branch chief at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and opened an investigation into whether he improperly offered to allow a team of inspectors to view the embalmed corpse of former Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio.
Mr. 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 pilot and astronaut at Arlington National Cemetery. So his body was transferred to the Dover mortuary for safekeeping.
In early March, a team of Pentagon inspectors was visiting the mortuary when the branch chief, William Zwicharowski, asked if they wanted to view Mr. 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 was exposed by four whistleblowers at the mortuary who were disciplined or fired by commanders at Dover for reporting the troubles. One of those whistleblowers was Mr. Zwicharowski, who said Friday that the investigation of the Glenn incident was another attempt by higherups in the Air Force to punish him for speaking out.
“I have a target on my back,” he said. “It’s continued retaliation.”
Mr. Zwicharowski said he did nothing improper by offering to let the inspectors view Mr. Glenn’s remains. He said his staff had further embalmed the body because Mr. Glenn’s funeral was still weeks away and 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 Mr. Zwicharowski but declined to comment in detail about the investigation, citing privacy concerns.
“The Air Force takes 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.
Mr. Zwicharowski and other personnel at Dover questioned the legitimacy of the Pentagon inspection team. They noted that two of its members had previously served at the mortuary and had been publicly implicated in the 2011 scandal for their role in the mutilation of the body of a Marine killed by a bomb in Afghanistan.
The body of Marine Sgt. Daniel Angus was shattered, and his upper left arm was frozen at an angle that made it impossible to dress him in uniform. Without notifying his family, two embalmers sawed off Sgt. Angus’s arm so they could fit him in his casket.
Whistleblowers, including Mr. Zwicharowski, reported the incident to outside investigators at the time as a desecration of the dead. The two embalmers said they were following orders.