SEOUL – The military\u2019s top officer said Thursday he has asked for a review of Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson\u2019s experience in burying her Army husband after Johnson said she was not allowed to see or touch his body prior to burial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson, 24, buried her husband, Sgt. La David Johnson, 25, after he was killed Oct. 4 along with three other soldiers in an ambush in Niger. Sgt. La David Johnson was separated from the rest of his 12-man team during the deadly ambush and his body was not recovered until 48 hours after the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In media interviews after his burial, Myeshia Johnson said that she was not allowed to touch, see or hold her husband\u2019s body and that she had doubts his remains were even in the casket she buried at a veterans cemetery in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said her account of her experience did not follow how the Defense Department\u2019s casualty assistance officers typically handle a burial. While the officers may recommend that survivors not view military remains if they think it would further disturb grieving family members, Dunford said it is always the family\u2019s decision as to whether they get access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve asked someone to look into that,\u201d Dunford said of Myeshia Johnson\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dunford did not identify who would lead that effort, saying only it would be \u201cthe right person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dunford said the Army was taking the lead in ensuring Myeshia Johnson and the other three Gold Star families were being taken care of. But Dunford said he knew from personal experience that the military can sometimes make mistakes during one of the hardest moments of a family\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnfortunately, we have a lot of practice,\u201d Dunford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been involved in situations where we haven\u2019t gotten it exactly right,\u201d Dunford said. \u201cI\u2019ve been involved in situations where it took me a year and a half to gain the trust of the family \u2014 multiple meetings, multiple visits, multiple conversations. Because everybody grieves differently and their response to the tragic loss of their loved one is all different. So as I always tell people, we have to be on their timeline for resolving those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy approach to these situations is that the perspective of the family is one you\u2019ve got to take seriously, no matter what. If the perception is they are not getting all the support that they need, then we\u2019ve got to fix that perception. And I know that is what the casualty assistance team is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Widow Myeshia Johnson said she was prevented from viewing or touching her Army husband’s body after he was killed Oct. 4 in Niger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":88,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,25,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3344],"class_list":["post-21322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FFCBXDK3HRFL5BO5VZ4S4WUDNQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2017\/10\/26\/dunford-seeks-answers-on-how-soldiers-remains-were-handled-from-niger-attack\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n