A Letter From My Mother

The following letter was sent to CNN by my Mother on May 11, 2009 (Mother's Day). Maybe someday the policies and procedures followed during the death of a serviceman on appellate leave will be streamlined so that other families will not need to suffer any more than necessary during the loss of a loved one.

My name is Carol Harris and I need your help. My son Kenneth Harris is on appellant leave from the Navy. My son passed away on May 3, 2009. All agree he is on active duty with all benefits except pay. He has a bad conduct discharge, which has been on appeal for in excess of 4 years. He had already served our country with honor and dignity for one full term and then re-enlisted for a second term of service. He still has a JAG attorney. Since his appeal is still active we know that he has not exhausted all of his appellant appeals. According to everything we have read what should happen is his discharge should be overturned and he should be reinstated back to his rank of E-5 with all benefits reinstated. We have got our Congressman Sanford Bishop involved and they are working on trying to get the issue resolved. All we want to do is Bury our Son in Fort Mitchell National Cemetery and give him what he has earned. As of today’s date May 10, 2009 we still have not been able to lay our son to rest. Today is Mothers day and I spent my morning at the Funeral Home buying a plot for my son and making arrangements to lay him to rest. We received a call from the Navy while in Congressman Sanford Bishop office and the Navy agreed that he is entitled to the Honor Guard. The Navy will not make a decision if Kenny can be buried at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery until they have a certified death certificate. Since the autopsy for Columbus, Georgia are performed by the GBI in Atlanta we can not get a certified death certificate until the toxicology report is done which according to our coroner that could be from 3 to 6 months. The Navy can issue letter of good standing, which will allow our son burial rights Fort Mitchell National Cemetery but will not with out a cause of death or a DD214. A DD214 cannot be issued since he still has an on going appeal. We have a quagmire situation. It is hard enough to lose a child, plan his funeral on Mothers day and fight the Navy for his rights. We just got off the phone with Navy and we are now being told that they have not made a decision on the Honor Guard. We will be laying our son to rest on Wednesday May 13, 2009 with or without the Navy’s Honor Guard. How much more hurt and pain should the Navy be allowed to inflict on our family.

Any help you could give us would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Carol Harris