The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency does a meticulous job reflected in their mission statement: “Provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation.” An extraordinary mission.
The Missions
The Recovery Mission – Long before a team is selected to roam a foreign countryside and climb rocky terrain, government-to-government talks take place, locations are identified, and the team then moves to the location, sets up camp, digs and sifts through earth and rock to find bone fragments and more. See the image at the top of the page.
The Honorable Carry – the remains found from the recovery mission are placed into containers, large and small, and sent to the Hawaii DPAA office for genetic identification.
The Repatriation Ceremony – After identification of remains, the remains are placed back into the container, the container is placed into a Military Transfer Case (MTC). The MTC, with a casket band already in place, is draped with a flag, the flag tucked into the casket band, and the MTC is placed on a military aircraft for the flight to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
At Dover, the remains are transferred to a casket, a complete dress uniform is assembled and placed over the remains, the casket sealed, draped with a flag, and sent to the family for burial with Military Funeral Honors provided by a local team.
The Disinterment Ceremony – Unknowns buried at cemeteries around the world are disinterred and the remains are sent for identification. The casket is dug up, plastic placed over the casket (because cemeteries did not use concrete vaults back then, the casket was just buried in the ground and it is covered in dirt when dug up), and a flag placed on the casket.
The Mistake
For the disinterments, the flag that is currently placed on the casket is sewn together which you can see in the six photos above. This is mutilation of the flag.
Definitions and Guidance
- The dictionary – Mutilation, an act or instance of damaging or altering something radically. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mutilation) and then we read
- The Flag Code –
- 4 U.S. Code § 3 – (for everyone) Use of flag for advertising purposes; mutilation of flag. The text is much too long to include here and never mentions sewing the material to itself. It does mention something to which shall be attached, appended, or affixed to the flag and that would include another portion of the flag.
- (For civilian Americans) 4 U.S. Code § 7 – Position and manner of display When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
- AR 840-10, MCO 10520.3, and AFI 90-1201 – (for military) All describe how the flag is folded in general and specifically state that the flag is folded after being removed from the casket.
It Cannot be Folded Correctly
The sewn flag can be folded into a tringle and the end result look correct, but it cannot be folded correctly. Caskets are not all the same size. Custom alterations are required for the flag to fit therefore it increases the cost to the government for said flag – resulting in wasteful spending.
It Cannot be Flown
Sewing it together, other than a repair of a rip, is mutilating the flag – it cannot fly after it’s used on the casket. A flag is designed to fly. That’s its main purpose. It does not matter that the same sewn flag is used repeatedly in different disinterment ceremonies.
It is Illegal
To mutilate the flag is still against the law. Whether the SCOTUS has flippantly ruled that mutilation is freedom of speech is immaterial. Essentially, the government is spending money to break its own laws. Fraud, waste, and abuse.
The Solution to the “Fitted Flag”
Like a bedsheet, the flag is to rest on top and have the ends tucked like the “hospital corners” of a bedsheet. It is not to be altered to fit snugly on a casket like the bottom “fitted sheet” on a bed. Use a casket band, just like you do around the Military Transfer Case. Simple and appropriate without violating law and protocol.
Written with input from DeVaughn Simper, Vexillologist.