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Bagram Airmen partner with local Afghans for burial ceremony

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. John Jung
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Recently there was a solemn burial outside a mosque in the town that borders Bagram Airfield. A small group of mourners and the local mullah were in attendance as prayers were said for the deceased. It was not an event of major significance except to those who attended and those who had a hand in making it happen.

Remains from six separate skin and bone segments were returned to the local community for burial. As is the Afghan locals Muslim custom, the remains were buried the same day they were received and before sunset at the mosque.

"Sometimes Afghans are brought in for improvised explosive device injuries and have skin and bone segments removed in the course of their medical treatment. The hospital keeps these in case the person needs to have them grafted back at a later point in time," said Senior Airman Timothy McCallum, 455th Expeditionary Medical Squadron.

Airman McCallum, a medical laboratory technician, deployed from the U.S. Air Force Academy, played a major role in the ceremony taking place by conducting extensive research for several days to identify specific skin and bone segments belonging to local Afghans so they could be returned for proper burial.

"Trying to identify who a specific skin or bone segment belongs to is often difficult, because they usually come in as trauma patients and it gets hectic and sometimes they aren't identified clearly," said Airman McCallum.

The Craig Joint Theater Hospital here treats any injured person, regardless of nationality or whether they are friend or foe, as long as they are brought to the hospital because of injuries caused by combat. Like any other medical facility, the hospital keeps skin or bone segment for a specific amount of time before they are either used as grafts or they are disposed of.

"After identifying the samples as belonging to local Afghans, Airman McCallum came to me wanting to know if there was something better that could be done with the remains - If maybe there was some more spiritual way to have them used other than to be disposed of," said Chaplain (Capt.) Christopher Underwood, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, who is assigned as the chaplain for the Craig Joint Theater Hospital and Task Force Med/East.

"Returning the remains to the local Afghans is a simple gesture of kindness and respect," said Chaplain Underwood, who is deployed from Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. "I have a good working relationship with the local Afghans who work as interpreters and asked if they knew of a way to help return these remains back with the respect and dignity they deserved."

Fortunately, the interpreters did know of some men who work in the hospital and live in the town outside of Bagram Airfield. In coordination with the two Airmen, they were able to arrange for the men to accept the remains, transport them from the hospital and have them buried at a local mosque.

"I just saw one of the men who accepted the bone samples the other day," said Airman McCallum. "He seemed really happy to have been able to help return the samples and help in the proper burial."

The burial was not an event of major significance except to those who attended and two Airmen who had a hand in making it happen. This small act by two concerned Airmen shows the dedication Americans have in helping two different cultures understand that kindness and respect is universal.

Editor's Note: Specific details were intentionally omitted for safety and security reasons.