Some Troops in Wrong Graves at Arlington?

Ex-Employee Speaking Out; Allegations Also Being Made of Shoddy Care for Items Left at Graves by Families

(CBS)  To be buried in Arlington National Cemetery is one of the highest honors reserved for America's fallen troops.

But, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier, one former Arlington employee is charging that authorities there are having trouble tracking some of the graves.

There are 330,000 troops buried at Arlington, Dozier notes, and for their loved ones, the cemetery is the last link to the husbands, wives, mothers or fathers they will never see again.

Yet, Dozier said, some families who come to the cemetery may be paying their respects at the wrong grave site.

Gina Gray, the ex-Arlington worker, told CBS News "Where people are buried is not matching the head stones, because they're using a paper record-keeping system, despite the fact that they've spent millions of dollars trying to automate the system."

Arlington's leadership has been promising Congress to fix it since 2000, according to Gray.

She says she reported the continuing problems with record-keeping to the cemetery's then-commander, Maj. Gen. Richard Rowe, last year.

"Two days later," she said, "I was fired. And nothing happened."

Gray is now suing the Army.

Arlington authorities admitted in a report to Congress last year that, "There are numerous examples of discrepancies that exist between burial maps, the physical location of headstones, and the burial records/grave cards." But they say they're "on target to implementing" a new, computerized system to address the problem.

Mismatched headstones aren't the only worry for the families whose loved ones are buried at Arlington, says Salon.com investigative reporter Mark Benjamin.

He's been photographing the graves at Section 60 -- where troops from Afghanistan and Iraq are buried -- since Memorial Day.

"I've watched as the elements have washed ... artifacts off the graves," Benjamin said, adding that personal mementos placed on graves are left in the rain for days, ruined by workers with power washers, or thrown into trash bins.

Technically, visitors aren't supposed to leave these photographs, letters, or flags at Arlington. But other war memorials have found a way to make allowances.

Mementos at the Vietnam War Memorial are carefully catalogued and saved, Dozier said, as a mark of respect to both the living and the dead. But it's not that way, she said, at Arlington.

Benjamin said, "Everything is left to rot out in the elements and then scooped up by workers and, except for a few exceptions, it's all thrown in a black dumpster."

Amy Neiberger-Miller's brother, Christopher, is buried in Section 60. She told Dozier this isn't how she thought her brother would be taken care of.

"It's concerning and even alarming to hear these kinds of things are going on," she said. "At the same time, our family is still tied to Arlington in a very deep and personal and almost spiritual way, because my brother is buried there."

Arlington Cemetery cancelled an on-camera interview with CBS News because, it said, of Gray's pending legal allegations.

But spokesperson Kailtin Horst told CBS News, "The difference (between) a memorial and a cemetery is the fact that we're hosting 27-30 funerals a day, we're so active and engaged in maintaining the cemetery, with maintenance, mowing and hedging around each stone."

Cleaners, she said, "are told to clean the headstones and remove everything from around them. Someone goes through the graves to remove certain items like religious items, military décor, before they do the actual cleaning. The rest of the stuff is supposed to thrown away, such as things that becomes unsightly, greetings cards that have been weathered and you can’t read them, photographs where images are no longer recognizable, flowers that have died off etc."

[kgdcbsnews]

Arlington National Cemetery's Section 60 spokesman David Foster has asked that we post their full comment to us from Thursday. Here it is. Kimberly Dozier/CBS News

The following statements are provided re Arlington National Cemetery Section 60:

"Maintaining the grounds is an important way in which we continue to pay our respects to our nation's service members resting at Arlington National Cemetery. While there are regulations in place to maintain the dignity of the cemetery's appearance, certain allowances have been made due to the sensitivity of Section 60 and religious items, military decorations, coins, unit patches are saved." (reference Floral Regulations, Department of the Army Pamphlet 290-5)

"As of today there are more than 330,000 people resting at Arlington National Cemetery. For most of Arlington's history, records were kept manually. There are indications there have been discrepancies in our records over the course of the cemetery's 140-year existence. To correct any inaccuracies, Arlington is implementing the Total Cemetery Management System and is scheduled to begin the triple validation phase next year."

"The triple valadation will be used for all burial information against the physical plot to ensure the accuracy of all information."

"Arlington National Cemetery is on track with the plan for the Total Cemetery Management System, as defined in the ANC Report to Congress FY08. As with all plans, progress is subject to anticipated funding levels, but we are currently on target."

[Dgunner]

I had two friends I grew up with that went to vietnam ahead me. This is there record . They were born fourteen days apart. Lived fourteen blocks apart, graduated fourteenth out thier highschool class , went to Vietnam fourtenn days apart came home fourteen days apart died fourteen days apart in hospitals on the fourteenth floor and are buried fourteen feet apart in the National Cemetery.One was Army the other Marine.This coincedence was not discovered for about a year after the latter of the two had passed away in a VA hospital.

[hagar39]

I'm 70. I've worked with hard copy(paper) and computers. My choice? Give me the paper any day.
Computer software? Crap in...crap out.
We have a new military cemetery at Fort Jackson, SC.
It's nice. The sad thing? It's filling up to soon.

[tmittelstaed]

Arlington has been around since the Civil War, when it was created specifically to insult and disrespect General Lee. It is ironic that a cemetary that's genesis for existence was to disrespect someone is itself being disrespected.

It's kind of hard to computerize something that's been a going concern for this long, it would be an immense amount of work to take all that data off a century and a half of paper and put it into a computer. The most logical way to do it would be to simply assume that any name on a headstone is canonical as to the placement of the body, knowing all the while that undoubtedly some bodies are switched around in the ground. Yes, the historical paperwork could indicate a swap - but how do you know the historical paperwork is correct, you don't.

[gosstom]

But spokesperson Kailtin Horst told CBS News, "The difference (between) a memorial and a cemetery is the fact that we're hosting 27-30 funerals a day, we're so active and engaged in maintaining the cemetery, with maintenance, mowing and hedging around each stone."

Cleaners, she said, "are told to clean the headstones and remove everything from around them. Someone goes through the graves to remove certain items like religious items, military décor, before they do the actual cleaning. The rest of the stuff is supposed to thrown away, such as things that becomes unsightly, greetings cards that have been weathered and you can?t read them, photographs where images are no longer recognizable, flowers that have died off etc."

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down

[sddemocrat]

This is Arlington National Cemetery, where President Kennedy is buried, the tomb of the unknown soldier, General Robert E. Lee, just to name a few. This is the cemetery that our men and women in uniform are buried and honored. I don't understand how the records could be so messed up in this day and age of computers. Surely our government that spend billions of dollars fighting a war could spend a little to upgrade the method of keeping Arlington's records. Washington and Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton and Bush should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this type of thing to happen. I'm sure they will have elaborate headstones for themselves and noone will lose their records.

[ibsteve2u]

"Technically, visitors aren't supposed to leave these photographs, letters, or flags at Arlington. But other war memorials have found a way to make allowances. "

Inappropriate.

Those of our military who are in those graves at Arlington are there because they followed orders or even exceeded their orders, going above and beyond the call of duty.

For visitors to insist that they should be allowed to disobey the simplest of orders is to dishonor their memory.

And then to whine about? That is disgusting.

[ibsteve2u]

Those graves should remain unadorned, for the those cold, stark gravestones are a memorial to those who died in a cold, stark business: War.

[ejcspau]

I understand the tie to the stone, but the person itsn't there. they are always with the family members. It's just a marker for the living, to help heal the wounds left by the loss. I have a lot of respect for works at veteran's cemetaries. My father body was buried at one 9 years ago. The flower arrangemnts my mother puts there don't last long and are taken care of every two weeks. The workers keep the cemetary looking nice and tidy. Give 'em a break. Those families would complain if nothing was taken care of because the graves would look like trash heaps and they aren't "respected". It's only a stone. The link is the memories and love.

[Sloughfoot]

Amen!

[willow0313]

I can't begin to express how right you are....Anyone who has buried a loved one would understand what you are saying....I stood at my son's marker, knowing that his physical body was merely six feet away, but also knowing that his spiritual being was no longer there...He is with God, and will forever live in a special place in my heart....The only emotion that can ever transcend the barrier between life and death is love....