A Moment of Silence for the Fallen

They are our sons, our daughters, our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our nephews, our nieces, our aunts, our uncles, our neighbors, our community members. They are our Americans.

Cross-posted at DailyKos.
National Security Archive Update, April 28, 2005

RETURN OF THE FALLEN

Just In: Pentagon Releases Hundreds More War Casualty Homecoming Images || Freedom of Information Act Forces Opening of 360 New Photos || Confirms War Casualty Honor Ceremony Images Belong in Public

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The casket bearing the body of US Navy Machinist’s Mate Third Class Nathan Taylor goes over the edge of the USS Enterprise during a Burial at Sea ceremony.

Casket being handled on military aircraft with images of honor guard members completely obscured.

One image is redacted; the other copy — the same image — is not. To see the difference, you’ll need to click on each image and view the full-screen version:

At the National Security Archive Update site, you can view a Flash presentation of the images, and you can also download zipped copies of all of the images in high or low resolution.

About the effort by the National Security Archive:

Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005 – In response to Freedom of Information Act requests and a lawsuit, the Pentagon this week released hundreds of previously secret images of casualties returning to honor guard ceremonies from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and other conflicts, confirming that images of their flag-draped coffins are rightfully part of the public record, despite its earlier insistence that such images should be kept secret.

One year after the start of a series of Freedom of Information Act requests filed by University of Delaware Professor Ralph Begleiter with the assistance of the National Security Archive, and six months after a lawsuit charging the Pentagon with failing to comply with the Act, the Pentagon made public more than 700 images of the return of American casualties to Dover Air Force Base and other U.S. military facilities, where the fallen troops received honor guard ceremonies. The Pentagon officially refers to the photos as “images of the memorial and arrival ceremonies for deceased military personnel arriving from overseas.” Many of the images show evidence of censorship, which the Pentagon says is intended to conceal identifiable personal information of military personnel involved in the homecoming ceremonies. …

There’s much more to the NSA Archive’s story.

We owe them a lot for doing this.