Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DOVER, Del. (AP) -- More bodies of U.S. troops killed in the war against Iraq arrived Thursday morning at the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, officials said.
A plane carrying the bodies of 16 Marines and Army soldiers from Germany landed in Dover about 2 a.m., said base spokesman Lt. Dustin Hart.
On Tuesday, the base mortuary, the largest in the Department of Defense, received the bodies of two Marines killed in the Iraq war and six Air Force personnel killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
Besides handling war casualties -- including 21,693 during the Vietnam War -- the mortuary has identified remains and prepared bodies for burial from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and both space shuttle accidents.
As the war in Iraq continues, officials with Dover's 436th Airlift Wing are calling in more than 100 reservists from as far away as California to assist the mortuary staff.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
