Documenting the return of U.S. war dead

In 1991, President George H. W. Bush implemented a ban on media coverage of returning war dead and their dignified transfer process at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Shortly after he assumed office, President Barack Obama asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to review this policy, and Gates later reversed it, giving family members of the fallen the right to allow or disallow media coverage. On April 5th, 2009, the repatriation of the remains of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Meyers became the first such event to be covered by the press in 18 years. This process has taken place, undocumented, over 5,000 times since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001. Collected here are photographs documenting the transfers of nine soldiers that have taken place since April 5th, 2009.


Members of the US Army's Old Guard carry team lift the remains of US Army Specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, as his body is returned on a C-17 to the US from Iraq April 7, 2009 at Dover Air Force Base, in Delaware. Specialist Candelaria Mejias, 28 yrs old, was killed April 5, 2009 near Baghdad as he attempted to disarm an IED. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)




2 U.S. Air Force Maj. Jonathon Riley stands watch over the media before the remains of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Meyers of Hopewell, Va. are offloaded from an aircraft during an arrival ceremony at Dover Air
Force Base, April 5, 2009 in Dover, Delaware. Staff Sgt. Phillip Meyers was killed on April 4 by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. The transfer of Meyers' remains at Dover Air Force Base was the first to be covered by the media in 18 years. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) #


3 Members of the US Military stand at attention next to the remains of US Army Specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, shortly before the carry team arrives to lift his his flag covered transfer case after his body was returned on a C-17 to the US from Iraq April 7, 2009 at Dover Air Force Base, in Delaware. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images) #


4 A carry team boards the plane to carry the transfer case containing the remains of Army Specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, who died in Iraq, off of the plane during the dignified
transfer event at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Tuesday, April 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) #


5 U.S. military personnel carry the casket containing the remains of Army Specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias from a C17 aircraft during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday, April 7, 2009.
(Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg News) #


6
U.S.
military personnel carry the casket containing the remains of Army
Specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias to a waiting mortuary transport
vehicle at Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday, April 7, 2009. (Brendan
Smialowski/Bloomberg News )#


7 An airman closes the door on a transport vehicle with the transfer case containing the body of Army specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias at Dover Air Force Base, April 7, 2009. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer) #


8 Staff Sgt. Star Samuels hangs up a freshly pressed U.S. flag on March 31 at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. The flags will be placed over caskets during the dignified transfer of remains. The center is the Defense Department's largest joint-service mortuary facility and the only one in the continental United States. Sergeant Samuels is deployed from the 43rd
Force Support Squadron, Pope Air Force Base, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III) #


9 Tech. Sgt. Latersa Frazier, a personal effects supervisor in the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover Air Force Base, polishes a watch on April 1 to demonstrate the cleaning process used on personal effects during preparation of remains, part of the dignified transfer process. The personal effects office prepares and cleans all items to be returned to the families of the soldiers. Sergeant Frazier is deployed from the 43rd Force Support Squadron at Pope Air Force Base, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III) #


10 A carry team places the transfer case containing the body of Army staff sergeant Gary L. Woods, Jr. next to the transfer case containing Army sergeant Edward W. Forrest,Jr at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, April 12, 2009. Army staff sergeant Gary L. Woods, Jr from Lebanon Junction, Kentucky and Army sergeant Edward W. Forrest,Jr from St. Louis, Missouri were killed while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer) #


11 A member of the U.S. Air Force stands watch over a K loader holding five flag-draped transfer cases holding the remains of US soldiers during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, April 12, 2009 in Dover, Delaware. Five US soldiers, US Army Private Second Class Bryce E. Gautier of Cypress, Ca., US Army Corporal Jason G. Pautsch of Davenport, Ia., US Army Sergeant Edward W. Forrest, Jr. St. Louis, Mo., US Army Staff Sergeant Gary L. Woods, Jr. of Lebanon, Ky., and US Army Staff Sergeant Bryan E. Hall of Elk Grove, Ca., were killed on April 10th in Mosul, Iraq when their military vehicle was stuck by a suicide vehicle loaded with explosives. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) #

12 A carry team moves the transfer case containing the body of Army private second class Bryce E. Gautier at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, April 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer) #


13 A carry team at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, loads into a mortuary transport vehicle the transfer case containing the remains of Staff Sgt. Bryan E. Hall, 25, of Elk Grove, Calif. on Sunday, April 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) #


14 One of five transfer cases is loaded into a transfer vehicle at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operation Center (AFMAO) at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, April 12, 2009. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) #


15 These undated pictures show four of the five men in the caskets immediately above. From left to right: Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch, age 20, Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., age 24, Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., age 25, and Staff Sgt. Bryan E. Hall, age 32. These four soldiers together with Private Second Class Bryce E. Gautier (no photo provided) were killed
when the military vehicle they were in was hit by a "suicide vehicle-borne" explosive in Mosul, Iraq on Friday, April 10, 2009. All were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. (AP Photo/U.S. Army) #


16 Shipping specialists Staff Sgt. Star Samuels (left) and Tech. Sgt. Willard Rico place a U.S. flag over a casket March 31, 2009, during a dry run of shipping process procedures for the dignified transfer of remains at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III) #


17 A carry team at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, carries the transfer case containing the remains of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski on Thursday, April 9, 2009. Oleski, 22, of Holland Patent, N.Y., died Wednesday while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) #


18 Members of the media watch as U.S. Marines transport a flag-draped transfer case holding the remains of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl Blaise A. Oleski, of Holland Patent, New York at Dover Air Force Base, April 9, 2009 in Dover, Delaware. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) #


19 U.S. Marines load a flag-draped transfer case holding the remains of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski, of Holland Patent, New York into a mortuary transport vehicle at Dover Air Force Base, April 9, 2009. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) #


20 A carry team salutes after moving the transfer case containing the body of Marine Lance Corporal Blaise A. Oleski at Dover Air Force Base, April 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer) #


21 A carry team enters a plane used to transport the remains of Army Specialist Michael J. Anaya, of Crestview, Fla., during the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base Delaware, Tuesday, April 14, 2009. Anaya, of Crestview, Fla., was killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near his vehicle in Bayji, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Pat Crowe II) #


22 A U.S. Army carry team moves the transfer case with the remains of Army Specialist Michael Anaya, of Crestview, FL at Dover Air Force Base April 14, 2009 in Dover, Delaware. (Mike Mergen/Getty Images) #


23 A carry team moves the transfer case containing the body of Army specialist Michael J. Anaya at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, April 14, 2009. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer) #


24 Air Force Staff Sgt. Star Samuels, front, and Air Force Tech. Sgt. Willard Rico place a U.S. flag over a casket March 31, 2009, during a dry run of shipping process procedures for the dignified transfer of remains at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III) #



25US Air Force Capt. Michael Andrews salutes as members of a U.S. Army carry team transport flag-draped transfer cases holding the remains of US Soldiers during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, April 12, 2009. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) #


Source: http://www.boston.com