Florida cemetery buries veteran in a cardboard box

Florida cemetery buries veteran in a cardboard box

1 hr ago Members of Congress are fuming at the discovery of a WWII veteran who was buried in a cardboard box at Florida National Cemetery in 2004. Sadly, Lawrence Davis Jr. had no loved ones to see him off, so Veteran Affairs buried his remains in the same container they arrived in from the medical examiner. Though the cemetery duly holds a special service four times a year for veterans who are buried without family present, the circumstances bring up the question of what exactly constitutes a "dignified burial."

Has veterans affairs gotten so bad that someone has to tell them what a "dignified burial" is? This is perhaps the worst I have every seen a vet being treated and it's about time they got it fixed.

Another link

Discovery of WWII veteran buried in cardboard box in Florida cemetery sparks outrage

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said, "We're not going to treat the veterans of this country that way. We're going to ensure there is a dignified burial." Nelson and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., both support a new bill called The Dignified Burial of Veterans Act of 2012. It would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to review its burial standards and would authorize it to purchase caskets or urns for all veterans in our national cemeteries.

I clicked this topic with the hopes that it was some mistake, or sick joke.

We bury our pets in cardboard boxes. Not our veterans. Well, that's what I always thought, anyway. I never would have guessed in a million years that the powers that be would consider a cardboard box to be a dignified burial.

This is such a sad thing. Even a simple wooden coffin would have been better this, and probably not that dang expensive. I hope that they pass the bill the article mentions, to ensure that future veterans' remains are given something more than a cardboard box.

I think someone needs to get over themselves, here. The person in question is DEAD. They're not going to be offended by being buried in a cardboard box, because they're no longer there.

Quite aside from being an insult, I think a cardboard box is a great choice of material for a burial. It will decompose much faster than wood will, which will allow the body to be re-used by the environment that much more quickly and effectively. As long as there is a decent funeral, then I don't see a problem here.

Please try and employ logic, rather than engaging in mindless, hysterical emotionalism.

Originally posted by petrus4
I think someone needs to get over themselves, here. The person in question is DEAD. They're not going to be offended by being buried in a cardboard box, because they're no longer there.

Quite aside from being an insult, I think a cardboard box is a great choice of material for a burial. It will decompose much faster than wood will, which will allow the body to be re-used by the environment that much more quickly and effectively. As long as there is a decent funeral, then I don't see a problem here.

Please try and employ logic, rather than engaging in mindless, hysterical emotionalism.

edit on 3-6-2012 by petrus4 because: (no reason given)

Here's a little something you obviously know nothing about. It's called respect. When it come your time be sure to tell your family to save a few bucks and just dump you in the hole as is that way you will decompose faster.

This goes right along with the way they treat veterans
when they are still alive. What has this country come to
that they cannot have a decent burial for a person who
gave their all. Very disturbing!!

reply to post by buster2010


I'd actually have no problem with my family doing exactly that.

If you seriously think that paying a couple hundred for a cheap wooden box which rots away anyway is called "showing respect", then all the more power to you. I call it wasting money.

I'd much rather my family save that money, and use it to have a ruddy good night out in my memory when its my time. Remembering who I was, what I did, and how I lived. Thats more "respect" to me, than a cheap pine box.

Originally posted by buster2010
Here's a little something you obviously know nothing about. It's called respect. When it come your time be sure to tell your family to save a few bucks and just dump you in the hole as is that way you will decompose faster.

This is just pure, misguided emotion, sorry. There's no rationality here at all.

Get rid of your brainwashing, and the level of reflexive rage that you feel whenever anyone deviates from it, for a few moments, and actually think.

The only reason why you worship the military to the degree that you do, is purely because it is what you've been taught to do. You don't do it because there's actually any sane reason behind doing it whatsoever.