Update on Disposition of Sgt. Hendrix’s Body

Earlier on this blog, I reported on a recent case involving a soldier who was killed in Iraq and buried according to his father’s wishes in Oklahoma.  The soldier’s mother wanted him to be disinterred and moved to California which is supposedly the place her son indicated in telephone conversation where he wanted to be buried.

Yesterday (November 1, 2005), a judge ruled on the case holding that Sgt. Hendrix will remain buried in Oklahoma.  See Divorced Father Wins Case Over Son’s Remains, NY Times, Nov. 2, 2005, which explains that this case

highlighted a little-known Pentagon policy that says that if a soldier who is killed is unmarried and has no children, custody is granted to the eldest next of kin. Sergeant Hendrix’s father, Russell Hendrix, is 48; his mother, Renee Amick, is 45.

The judge was not impressed with the mother’s testimony.  He concluded that the “testimony of the mother appeared forced and contrived. * * * The tears were not genuine.”

Special thanks to Douglas Cowan for bringing this article to my attention.