Military to require soldiers to pick person to handle funeral

Thursday, July 7, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.

SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department soon will require military service members to designate a person authorized to make their funeral arrangements.

The Pentagon announced a policy change in part because of prodding by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and a Las Vegas mother who lost her son.

Pentagon officials have given military personnel the option of designating a "person authorized to direct disposition."

But soon members of the U.S. military will be required to list a person, on a separate line on a record of emergency data form, who would be responsible for burial arrangements, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John Molino told Berkley in a letter.

The change was a response to the case of two families in which disputes arose over who would make funeral arrangements for fallen servicemen, including Marine Cpl. Nicholas Anderson of Las Vegas, who died Nov. 12 in Iraq.

Anderson's parents are divorced. His mother, Eleanor Dachtler, wanted his body to be brought back to Nevada for burial, but the Pentagon, following a long-established rule, gave burial rights to the eldest parent and Anderson's father buried his son in Ventura, Calif.

"When all things are considered equal, using age as the sole discriminator has been a successful policy for many years," Molino told Berkley. But he also acknowledged that the dispute over burial rights "contributed to the pain and anguish" of Anderson's parents.

Berkley had introduced legislation requiring the change. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., co-sponsored the legislation after a parental dispute arose over the body of Army Staff Sgt. Jason Hendrix.

"This simple change will prevent heartache for military families and will give our servicemen and women the final say in who determines their funeral arrangements," Berkley said. "This is a common sense solution that will allow us to honor the wishes of our fallen heroes."