Arlington National Cemetery Investigation

Another mystery grave at Arlington

Mark Benjamin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:01:00 PST

An engineering technician who works on burials at Arlington National Cemetery provided a startling sworn statement about misplaced remains at the cemetery to an Army investigating officer in late July.

The Army opens a broad new probe into Arlington

Mark Benjamin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:01:00 PST

In the wake of a Salon investigation, the Army Friday announced a broad investigation into “lost accountability” at some graves at Arlington National Cemetery, along with shoddy record keeping and other issues at the cemetery.

Arlington officials can't get their stories straight

Mark Benjamin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05:00 PST

The top official at Arlington National Cemetery claims he was unaware of the most recently reported burial error at the cemetery, possibly, he says, because he was away at the time it occurred. Cemetery employee records, however, show Superintendent John Metzler present and working at Arlington when the cemetery discovered this most recently disclosed burial foul-up, which resulted in digging up and moving the remains of one service member the cemetery had accidentally buried on top of another.

More misplaced remains at Arlington National Cemetery

Mark Benjamin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:28:00 PST

Air Force Master Sgt. Marion Grabe passed away on Christmas day in 2007. She had served 26 years as an operating room nurse in the Air Force she loved, including 17 months in a Manila hospital treating wounded soldiers during the Vietnam War.

Mark Benjamin talks about Arlington's new unknown soldier

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:35:00 PDT

Salon's Mark Benjamin was on "Morning Joe" Thursday morning to discuss his investigation into continuing problems at Arlington National Cemetery. Specifically, he was discussing what he reported last week, that Arlington has its first unknown soldier in 25 years, because of a bureaucratic snafu -- the cemetery lost the paperwork identifying the remains. Video is below.

Arlington unveils a new unknown soldier

Mark Benjamin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:07:00 PDT

For the first time in a generation, Arlington National Cemetery has marked the burial of an unknown on its storied grounds. Only this time, 25 years since the last interment at the Tomb of the Unknowns, the identity of the body remains a mystery not because the ravages of war made identification impossible, but because in a bureaucratic error the cemetery lost the paperwork showing the identity of the remains.

Millions in contracts, no work completed

Mark Benjamin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:09:00 PDT

A top official at Arlington National Cemetery steered millions of dollars to a handful of contractors operating a series of different companies over the past several years. When the contractors would leave one company and start another, the official would hire them again, yet the work they were hired to do has never been completed. The firms have ostensibly worked since 2003 to computerize burial records at the cemetery, but to date, despite receiving as much as $5.6 million, they have produced almost nothing in return.

A fitting Kennedy tribute: Clean up Arlington mess

Mark Benjamin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:40:00 PDT

Thousands of people lined up in a seemingly endless line to pay their last respects to Sen. Ted Kennedy at the J.F.K. library in Boston on Friday, one day before his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. During that procession, a select list of guests had been asked to stand vigil at the senator's side as the visitors filed by. Among them were Kennedy's nephew Bobby Shriver, former staffer Patti Sarris, now a federal judge in Massachusetts, and Tim Hagen, the senator's old college buddy.

Contractor in Arlington fraud scandal arrested

Mark Benjamin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:14:00 PDT

A contractor at the center of a fraud scandal at Arlington National Cemetery has been arrested on multiple charges of child abuse and sex offenses.

Did Arlington National Cemetery break the law?

Mark Benjamin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:15:00 PDT

Arlington National Cemetery this summer mailed to a Florida contractor two computer servers containing the personal data -- including Social Security numbers -- of thousands of deceased soldiers. A senior cemetery official ordered the servers to be mailed despite federal law and Army regulations that prohibit such unauthorized shipping, and despite the objections of the cemetery's IT manager, who warned of possible privacy law violations. The close and curious relationship between the contractor, Optimum Technical Solutions, and the cemetery official was detailed by Salon yesterday.

Why did Arlington National Cemetery rehire Bobbie Garrett?

Mark Benjamin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:17:00 PDT

Arlington National Cemetery has rehired a private contractor who was involved in a recent wire fraud scandal at the cemetery. Bobbie Garrett was employed by a computer company working on a multimillion-dollar project at the cemetery when he and cemetery deputy superintendent Thurman Higginbotham were caught hacking into the computer files of a former cemetery employee. After Garrett left the company and the Washington area, eluding Army investigators, he started a new computer firm in Florida -- and the cemetery granted this new firm a six-figure contract.

Army will investigate Arlington National Cemetery

Mark Benjamin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:25:00 PDT

On the heels of a series of investigative articles in Salon that exposed significant problems at Arlington National Cemetery, where more than 300,000 soldiers and family members are buried, the Army has launched an internal investigation at the cemetery.

Arlington's buried secrets

Mark Benjamin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:21:00 PDT

Salon has uncovered further evidence of grave offenses at Arlington National Cemetery. It is now clear that the cemetery, which is managed by the U.S. Army and calls itself "our nation's most sacred shrine," lost track of the identity of remains buried in a grave, and covered up the disturbing discovery for six years. New information also casts doubt on Army statements about when the Army learned of criminal misconduct by a top cemetery official.

A grave record from Arlington

Mark Benjamin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:10:00 PDT

Video: Injustice at Arlington Cemetery

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:18:00 PDT

Salon's Mark Benjamin spoke to CBS News about his investigation into injustices at the Arlington National Cemetery. Read more of the Salon investigation here and here.

What's trashed at Arlington National Cemetery

Mark Benjamin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:16:00 PDT

A few days after Memorial Day, I walked across the sprawling, plush lawn of Arlington National Cemetery. I headed toward Section 60, a remote area of the famous burial ground, where 600 service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest. Gina Gray, former public affairs officer at the cemetery, had testified that mismanagement at Arlington had resulted in callous treatment of personal mementos and artifacts left on grave sites in Section 60. The sun was out after several days of rain. As I approached the gravestones, I saw that Gray was right.

Grave offenses at Arlington National Cemetery

Mark Benjamin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:19:00 PDT

An elegant white sign at Arlington National Cemetery informs visitors they are inside "our nation's most sacred shrine." Run under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army, Arlington is the final resting place of John and Robert Kennedy, Supreme Court justices Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and Earl Warren, and the nation's military royalty from the Civil War to the Iraq war. More than 4 million people visit Arlington every year to tour the legendary grave sites, which include those of "Maltese Falcon" author Dashiell Hammett and big-band leader Glenn Miller, and watch a specially trained U.S. infantry soldier march silently in guard of the Tomb of the Unknowns. Arlington shelters the remains of more than 320,000 service members and holds nearly 30 new funerals a day. As visitors head out into the sacred grounds, the cemetery asks, "Please conduct yourselves with dignity and respect at all times."

Advertising for war at Arlington National Cemetery?

T.G. — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:35:00 PDT

Bush administration officials don't want Americans to see the coffins coming home from Iraq, but that doesn't mean that they're opposed to a little pro-war promotion once a soldier's body is in the ground. As the Associated Press is reporting, nearly all of the gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are being inscribed with the names of the operations in which they served.

Newsreal: The great Arlington National Cemetery smear

Jonathan Broder — Wed, 03 Dec 1997 12:00:00 PST

The family and some relatives had just sat down to Thanksgiving dinner when my cousin, Jim, an Air Force veteran, leaned earnestly across the table. "So," he said, "first Clinton sold overnights in the Lincoln bedroom to big party donors. Now I understand he's selling burial plots at Arlington National Cemetery. Tell me, is nothing sacred in this administration anymore?"