Berkley to push bill to force military burial arrangements

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | 8:47 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The dispute over the final resting place of Marine Lance Corporal Nicholas Anderson, a 2003 Bonanza High School graduate who was killed in Iraq in November, may spur a change funeral arrangement rules for service members killed while on active duty.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev, plans to introduce a bill today that would require military members to designate someone to make final arrangements should they die in the line duty.

Anderson's mother Eleanor Andrea Dachtler, wanted her son buried in Las Vegas, where he had lived with her since he was 3 years old. But Dachtler and her ex-husband Albert Anderson, of Ventura, Calif, fought over where their son's remains would be buried.

Defense Department policy ultimately decided the father had rights to the remains because he was older than his mother, so the Nicholas Anderson was buried in California,

"Eleanor's story opened my eyes to the heartache that has been caused by the gap in current military regulations," Berkley said in a statement.

Berkley's bill would allow service members to chose who would determine their burial location while filing out paperwork.

"We already ask those in the military to designate who receives certain financial benefits and the same opportunity should be given to these brave men and women when it comes to funeral arrangements," Berkley said. "One simple line on a form can spare families faced with the loss of a loved one from having to also cope with the pain of determining who has final say in decisions involving the disposition of remains."

Under current Department of Defense policy, service members are not required to make a determination about disposition of their remains.

"Requiring members of the military to spell out their wishes in advance will provide peace of mind to survivors who will know that it was their loved one, and not a bureaucratic military regulation, who made this very personal decision," Berkley said in a statement.