(Image source: Air Force)

BY BLAKE HANSON

Records show the Air Force dumped the ashes of more than 250 American soldiers in a Virginia landfill.
CNN has the details.

“New records reveal that the Air Force dumped the remains of at least 274 in a Virgina landfill. That’s far more than the military initially reported. A federal investigation revealed gross mismanagement and the Air Force’s Dover Mortuary, which handles the bodies of U.S. war dead.”

The Washington Post brought the secret practice to light last month-- and the Air Force admitted-- it dumped cremated body parts after families authorized it to dump the remains in a “dignified and respectful” manner.

The Washington Post reports there are more than 2,700 incinerated body parts in the landfill -- and the Air Force says it’d be too much work to pinpoint the exact number. That’s infuriated Democratic Congressman Rush Holt...

“‘What the hell?’ Holt said in a phone interview. ‘We spent millions, tens of millions, to find any trace of soldiers killed, and they’re concerned about a ‘massive’ effort to go back and pull out the files and find out how many soldiers were disrespected this way?’”

Getting the Air Force to admit to the practice was no easy task. NPR talks with the Washington Post’s Craig Whitlock who broke the story...

HOST: “Was the Air Force reluctant to acknowledge the scope of this?”
WHITLOCK: “Yes, very much so, we had asked them as soon as we heard about this, how extensive was this? How long did this go on?
WHITLOCK: “They said it was too difficult to go through their files to determine how many people have been affected by this.”

The remains in the landfill came from the Dover Airforce Base-- which recently has been the subject of a federal investigation that uncovered “gross mismanagement”. Think Progress provides some context...

“The practice began at a time when there was little public oversight over the Dover mortuary. President George H.W. Bush banned news coverage of the return of deceased troops during the Gulf War in 1991, and the ban remained until 2009, when President Obama ended it.”

Since 2008, the Air Force has buried cremated remains at sea.