Dover gears up to help families of war dead

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DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Shortly after 4:20 a.m. Easter Sunday, a pair of flag-covered caskets with the remains of Marines killed the previous week in Afghanistan were carried out of a C-17 transport plane into the sight of their waiting families.

As two mothers, a widow and a knot of other relatives watched from the tarmac, the bodies of Sgt. Frank World, 25, of Buffalo, N.Y., and Lance Cpl. Tyler Griffin, 19, of Voluntown, Conn., were loaded into a van. Marines in white gloves and camouflage fatigues gave a final salute in the dark chill and then marched in formation behind the van as it rolled slowly toward the base mortuary, the largest in the nation.

In the past year, as the remains of 462 service members, accompanied by nearly 2,000 relatives, have passed through Dover, the experience on the flight line has become as common as it is excruciating. Now, to meet the demand and to accommodate what Dover officials expect to be increasing casualties from Afghanistan, the military has embarked on a building surge at this main entry point for the nation's war dead.

In January, Dover opened the Center for the Families of the Fallen, a $1.6 million, 6,000-square-foot space of soft lighting and earth-toned furniture where parents, spouses, children, siblings and other relatives assemble before they are taken to the flight line. On May 1, there is to be a groundbreaking for a $4.5 million hotel for relatives who need to spend the night. The same day, ground will be broken on what Dover officials are calling a meditation center, a nondenominational space with an adjacent garden where relatives can pray or be alone.

The building boom is under way as the Iraq war is winding down — 50,000 U.S. troops are set to withdraw from the country by August — and as President Barack Obama has set July 2011 for the start of withdrawals from Afghanistan. But most of the 30,000 extra troops Obama ordered to Afghanistan are due to arrive this summer, bringing the total U.S. force there to nearly 100,000. Heavy fighting is expected in the months ahead . . .


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