Solider's Plea
On an airport tarmac in Atlanta, Jamie Saylor waited for his brother Paul to arrive. Nearby, airline employees milled about, watching the scene and smoking.
It was the evening of Aug. 20, 2005, although Jamie could not tell you the date.
Eventually, a forklift rolled in with the casket.
"You, stop!" he shouted, flagging down the forklift operator.
With the help of some police officers from their hometown, Jamie and his father lifted Paul and carried him the rest of the way to the car ready to take the family back home to Bremen, Ga.
It had been five days since Army Sgt. Paul Saylor died in Iraq. His Humvee had crashed into a roadside canal in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, and he drowned. He was 21.
Back in Bremen, the Saylors asked their funeral home director, Bill Hightower, if Paul's body could be prepared for viewing. An Armed Forces medical examiner had recommended that body not be viewed due to decomposition - but they wanted to know.
Hightower said there was nothing he could do. The body had rotted.
"The only thing Bill could recognize was his nose," said Patti Saylor, Paul's mother.
The Saylors never saw Paul's body, and neither did the more than 1,500 people who attended the funeral services in the town of less than 5,000.
"I think it would have helped a lot (to view the body)," Patti said. "Sometimes I wonder, is this even real? Did this really happen?"
The family decided something had to change, especially after Hightower said he believed neglect caused the decomposition. And when they heard reports of similar scenes on airport runways, they feared they might not be the only ones missing a chance to find closure.
"It goes from anger to disbelief and then to trying to get something done," said Jamie, who played football at UK from 1999 to 2003 and is currently a student in UK's graduate school.
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In high school, Paul played football with his older brother Jamie and acted in school plays. After graduation, he attended North Georgia College and State University, a military college, and then he went to Iraq as part of the 48th Brigade, 108th Scout Division.
A few weeks ago, a man stopped Jamie Saylor Sr. on the street and asked if he was Paul Saylor's father.
"Well, he took up for me once in school, and I never forgot it," the man said.
That was Paul - the one who always was quick to lend a hand, his brother said.
"He was real kindhearted," Jamie said. "He was the type who would help you, but he wouldn't let you know it."
Now, it's Jamie who's trying to help his brother.
"I know he didn't die in vain. I just want to make sure something positive comes out of it. Death is not the end."
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In September, the Saylors wanted some answers.
"A lot of people had not asked why they couldn't see the remains, so the Army can just tell you whatever they want," Jamie said. "I don't think many people even know it's going on."
They met with Army representatives and contacted one of Georgia's U.S. senators, Saxby Chambliss, and one of its U.S. representatives, Phil Gringey, to ask them to look into what had gone wrong. In a response last month, the Army said it had done all it could.
"The Army can still assure you that Sergeant Saylor's remains were handled in a dignified and respectful manner in accordance with approved procedures," said a Jan. 4 letter from Mortuary Affairs and Casualty Support.
"Then something is wrong with the procedures," Patti responded.
The current procedure is for the remains to be packed in ice, so they are preserved for the trip from Iraq to Dover, Md., where an autopsy and embalming can be performed. On the day Paul died, the temperature in Iraq was 101 degrees.
The Chronological Record of Medical Care dated that day said "mild rigor mortis" had set in, but it mentions nothing about decomposition. When Paul's remains reached Dover on Aug. 18, they were declared to be in the "advanced stages of decomposition," according to the Record of Preparation and Disposition of Remains.
"I don't care if there's a toenail left - you can give it the respect soldiers deserve," Patti said. "(The Army) didn't even keep my son cold.
"They put our loved ones on ice and seemed to think this was the way to handle our fallen heroes."
The Army's answers are still not enough for her.
"These men and women are doing their duty," Patti said. "They deserve to be handled with love and respect, whether you agree with the war or not. These are sons, brothers, husbands. The Army forgets that these are loved ones. They need to treat them like their own loved ones."
The more the family learned, the more they wanted things to change.
"Most people don't even know there's not even a morgue over there," Patti said. "I think it is a fixable problem - we just have to get out and tell people. We can change this. You just have to get Congress and the Army working."
This week marks the 26th since Paul's death and in that time, more than 400 other soldiers have died in Iraq. The Saylors worry some of those families also have lost the opportunity to see their loved ones' remains.
"We want to make sure no other family that loses a soldier goes through this," Jamie said.
Last month, Jamie decided to create a Web site -
www.soldiersplea.com - to tell Paul's story and draw signatures to a petition requesting the creation of mortuary services for American soldiers in Iraq.
"When something like this happens, you need to turn it around," Patti said. "I know Paul would say to us, 'All right.' He would be doing the same thing for us."
On the site, Jamie writes that putting embalming equipment in Iraq would cost the Army about $2,500 - what he calls "a drop in the bucket."
"We just want this to stop as soon as possible to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said. "I don't know anything else we can do. I'm just trying to make a positive out of a negative."
So far, more than 3,000 have signed the petition, and Rep. Gingrey, R-Ga., has followed up on the case. The Saylors' questions and concerns were the first he had heard about the handling of remains.
"I was surprised," said Gingrey, who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. "This is the first time this has ever come up to me. None of my colleagues had heard this either."
Still, Gingrey wants to offer any help he can.
"They're trying to get all their questions answered, and we're trying to get those answers for them," Gingrey said. "We want to get all the details and we'll check and recheck those if we have to."
Yesterday, he visited the Dover facility on behalf of the Saylors, and he was impressed with the work being done there.
"They have been doing this (process) for years," he said. "It's a state-of-the-art facility, and clearly they are treating our fallen heroes with the highest respect."
He declined to offer more than that, as he wished to speak with the Saylors in person about what he discussed with officials in Dover.
As for the handling of the remains at the airport, Gingrey said he and the Saylors had brainstormed ideas like finding color guards that would be available to meet the casket and help unload it from the airplane. This could be a logistical problem, though, as the Transportation Security Administration has strict rules for who can be around the cargo hold of a plane, he said.
Still, the Saylors will work to tell Paul's story and push the Army to answer their concerns.
"They might not listen to one or two (people)," Patti said, "but they will listen to thousands."
E-mail
twiseman@kykernel.com
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!!!!
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