European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 25, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday june 25,1987 the stars and stripes o a the last goodbye it gets rough sometimes by Daryl e. Green staff writer Frankfurt the Little stuffed dog tumbled out of the bag and landed on the tiny yellow and while infant s dress As the mortuary staff inventoried the Young girl s belongings. I have to admit it gets rough sometimes said spec. 4 Dewayne Council grave registry specialist at the . Army memorial affairs activity Europe. Especially when we have mule children Back there because i be got a Little baby of my own at Home he said pointing to the Large wooden doors separating he lab from the rest of the Frankfurt mortuary. The Frankfurt mortuary is the largest of the three facilities of the memorial affairs activity the others Are in Germany and Vincnza Italy. Five civilian morticians and 12 military grave registration specialists in Frankfurt serve department of defense employees in Belgium Denmark France Germany Northern Italy Luxembourg the nether lands and Yugoslavia. Their work brought them face to face with the cold reality of the loss the nation endured when 37 sailors were killed last month in a missile attack on the . Navy frigate Stark in the persian Gulf. They also identified prepared and shipped the bodies of the 237americans killed in the terrorist bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut in october 1983, As he country mourned the sailors killed on the Stark the mortuary workers busied themselves with the Bruit reality. Their task left them Little Lime for grief or to fathom the magnitude of what had happened. It did t bother me until the ceremony we had said spec. 4 Sean a. Bin Dale assistant no in charge of the preparation room. The Mission. I mean we wanted to get that Mission through. We had All that pressure on us to get these remains out and it was a natural everyday thing except we had 36 of them one victim was listed As Tost and presumed dead said Bondele who remember done victim had lived near his Hometown of Victorville Calif. Seeing them there with their Flag draped coffins lined up that was something else he said. But dealing with death on a daily basis is not some thing that often causes Bendale and his co workers much distress. And it s not because they arc any less feeling than anyone else said the husband and father of an Active 3-year-Otd boy. When we Tell people where we re from like at the softball Field they la say of the gravediggers. The cold people. The iceman i think anybody could do it if they had to. See everybody Calls us special but i Don t feel special for doing this Job he said. " i mean it s just a Job for me. I love what i m doing Don t get me wrong. But 1 Don t feel i m special because i can handle it better than anybody Many ask Why someone would Wam such a Job. Bendele remembers that it was t something he Al ways wanted to do As a child. The Only thing i can Ever remember wanting to be was a veterinarian. I love animals he said. As is the Case with Many people who do similar work his interest was passed on through the family. Band Etc s father spent 20 years in the air Force in the medical career Field before working fora mortuary. He got me a Job at a cemetery Bendale said. And it started from a lot of them request the military occupational specially said Hughes a licensed mortician with a family run funeral parlor in Norfolk va., awaiting him when he leaves the army a lot of them used to work in funeral Homes and so Bendale said the Job can gel depressing and the staff makes a Tot of jokes in the Back room just to keep ourselves but the joking never overshadows the seriousness of the task before them. That is one thing they stress Here. These remains get the utmost respect Bendele said. Professional Pride also helps Bendele and his col leagues keep level Heads. I never have any feelings about the deceased said Bondele although he admitted to hiding a few tears during the ceremony for the Stark victims. It was a Job. 1 wanted to get the Job done right because i knew there was a family Back Home wailing for these re Mains. And i wanted to do my part to make sure every thing was one of the reasons they strive to get everything right is that they feel a certain kinship with the victims of death Council said. They re one of us. And we realize that we re the last people to service them As a part of the military and we want to do a Good some repatriated soviets quietly return to America new York a at least five families of soviet emigres who returned to their Homeland from the United Stales in recent months have quietly come Back according to the stale department the departure of the emigres from the United states was widely Public Icid Here and in the soviet Union where the Media hailed them As the Vanguard of hundreds of disillusioned soviets who wanted to leave America. Since november 1986, Only 146 emigres have been repatriated to the Soviel Union from the United Stales said Aleksci Zhuva Kin vice Consul for the soviet embassy in Washington. Of those at least five families have re turned to the United Stales said Ruth Chuven a spokeswoman for the slate department s Bureau of consular affairs. Others May have returned she added but the state department Only knows of those who contacted it for assistance. A Heakin said approximately six to eight persons returned to the United Stales Al though he said his figures May not be up toddle. The returnees left the soviet Union again because they have relatives Here in this country and problems with children who grew up in this country a Heakin said. The children had problems with friends differences in languages differences in Edu cation be said adding that some of the youths had to go to school at a level four grades lower than in the United Stales. The reasons Are More or less understandable a Heakin said. They decided it was better for their children to come some of the resuming emigres did no think completely about the whole thing when they decided to go Back to the soviet Union a Heakin said. The largest single group to Clum to the soviet Union was 50 emigres who left new York on an Aeroflot Jet for Moscow on dec. 2b, 19b6. In other group departures 17 Emi Gres returned in october and november 1986. And a group of 12 returned in Jan uary. Abstract painters Valery and Lidia Kiev or their teen age daughter Irina and their i year old son Nikita resumed to the United Stales in May. They had left in the de Cember group which soviet officials called the largest repatriation from the United states. Klever who left Leningrad wild his family initially in 1977 after the government closed exhibits of their paintings said Mon Day he came Back to the United states be cause it is Lite greatest country in the i made a mistake in returning to the soviet Union Klever said in a Telephone interview from the los Angeles area. He said his family had to Wail two months for a two room communal apartment in Lenin Grad that they shared with another family of returnees Yuri and Irina Gale sky. When they left the United Stales in de Cember mrs. Klever had complained about Money problems. You have to worry about your life you apartment your monthly Bills everything. Every month every Day i was waiting for the next Dollar to pay Bills she said at the time. Her husband had said thai in the United slates a Man has to become a Wolf to sur a Heakin said some of the returnees had problems finding apartments in soviet Cit ies. Some have already received apart ments some have not he said. It depends on the condition of that in november Faina and David gout their Mother and two teen age sons resumed o Jersey City no. They decided to return to the United slates after six Days in mos cow. Mis. Gonta had said they realized immediately they had made a serious mis take because they had become too All of the double emigres who held american passports apparently encountered no difficulties from the soviet authorities when they decided to come Back. If there had been problems the . Embassy in Moscow would have known about it a spokesman for the embassy said. A Heakin had said in december thai if any of the returnees changed their minds they would be free to come Back to the United Stales. The publicity that surrounded the de Cember Alum Ces coincided with articles in the soviet press on the difficulties faced by soviet emigres. At one Lime emigres were castigated a traitors. Western diplomats have said the decision of the Goi Tachev administration to allow emigres to return was part of a larger Effort to depict emigration As no pan Acea for the discontents of Sovil life. A protester in the swim Appolo an australian Sailor grapples from the water a political protester who swam out Lom i a a boat carrying australian prime minister Bob Hanke second from right. Hawk arrived in Sydney tuesday to launch his labor party Campaign for the australian general election scheduled fur july 11
