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| Africa North |
| Air Force repatriates remains from Wheelus |
| 2007-06-26 |
| Thought this may be of interest some RBers. EFL Air Force officials recently returned from Libya with the remains of 72 deceased Americans, believed to be family members of Airmen once stationed at Wheelus Air Base located outside of Tripoli, the nation's capital. "The Air Force was notified by the State Department and we were told that there were Americans still buried there," Mr. Blair said. "Wheelus was active from about 1958 to 1972 as a B-52 (Stratofortress) base and Airmen were permitted to have their families with them." The two-week unearthing process was an arduous one as Mr. Blair and his three-person team worked with local contractors to recover the 35- to 50-year-old remains. Conflicting schedules and religious holy days limited the amount of time they could all work at the site. Overall, 70 infants and two adults were repatriated from the cemetery. If anyone thinks they may have, or know someone who has, family who might have been buried at Wheelus AB, call the Air Force Mortuary Office at 800-531-5803. |
| Posted by:GK |
| #7 dead, prolly from the O-Club food. Don't try the Deer Nuts |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-06-26 17:58 |
| #6 I'll ask Abee he knows they're all buried. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-06-26 17:16 |
| #5 It was pretty good sized Barb, had it's own high school. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-06-26 17:15 |
| #4 I defer to the guys who were stationed there. |
| Posted by: GK 2007-06-26 16:53 |
| #3 GK - I doubt that the total American population at Wheelus at any one time was huge. That's still a pretty high mortality rate for infants. I was alive during the period and don't remember infant mortality being that great here in the States. It's bizarre. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-06-26 16:41 |
| #2 Barbara, the deaths spanned a 15 year period. The dead were buried at a cemetery run by the Italian military, which had offered Americans stationed at Wheelus a free plot and marker. At the time, there was no entitlement for American service members to have deceased family flown home, so many Airmen took the Italians up on the offer, Mr. Blair said. |
| Posted by: GK 2007-06-26 16:35 |
| #1 "70 infants and two adults were repatriated from the cemetery" What on earth....? Some kind of plague? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-06-26 16:02 |