Tampa Marine's arm sawed off to be "dressed" for funeral?

Remains of Thonotosassa soldier at center of military mortuary probe

By Jessica Vander Velde
Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, December 9, 2011

[STEPHEN J. CODDINGTON Times (2010)]
The casket of Marine Sgt. Daniel Angus, 28, arrived at MacDill Air Force Base on Feb. 4, 2010. His widow, Bonnie, second from the left, looks down at it as family members comfort each other.

TAMPA — As the family of fallen Marine Sgt. Daniel Angus mourned, strangers honored him. They held flags and saluted his casket when it passed through Tampa in a January 2010 motorcade.

Nearly two years later, the Armwood High graduate's funeral preparations are at the center of a federal investigation that concluded the U.S. Air Force has mishandled troops remains.

The Air Force dumped the cremated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill and sawed off part of Sgt. Angus' left arm without his family's permission, according to reports from the Air Force and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency.

The Air Force, while declaring an end to such practices, concluded the military did nothing wrong by removing part of the sergeant's arm so he could be dressed in uniform.

Angus' parents and sister disagree, a family attorney said. They're horrified about his "mutilation," and learning of it has led to a fresh wave of grief, attorney Mark O'Brien said.
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