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May 16, 2008 9:14:54 AM CDT

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Pentagon Quits Cremating Troops Alongside Pets  

Posted May 10, 08 10:55 AM CDT in US    Most Covered

(newser) – The Pentagon will stop sending fallen troops to a crematorium that also handles pets, McClatchy reports. A Delaware Air Force base had been sending the bodies of troops killed in battle to a crematorium that had two separate facilities, one for humans, another for pets. The move was prompted by complaints from a soldier who accompanied the body of a friend and noticed the pet facility.

While no human remains were cremated in the pet facility, a Pentagon rep said Defense Secretary Robert Gates felt that "it's inappropriate to cremate our fallen, our heroes in a facility that also cremates pets. The families of the fallen have the secretary’s deepest apology.”

Sources McClatchy Newspapers, CNN

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Associated Press | May 10, 08

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Pentagon Quits Cremating Troops Alongside Pets
Army staff director Lt. Gen. David Huntoon speaks during a news conference Friday. Huntoon will visit an Air Force base where troops' remains were sent to be cremated near animals'.   (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Pentagon Quits Cremating Troops Alongside Pets
Defense Secretary Robert Gates talks with reporters during a news conference at the Pentagon, Thursday, May 8, 2008 in Washington.   (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
Pentagon Quits Cremating Troops Alongside Pets
Air Force staff director Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, center, speaks during a news conference, Friday, May 9, 2008, at the Pentagon in Washington.   (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
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