Boston VA Error Delayed Florida Veteran's Burial

VA error delays Palmetto veteran’s funeral, angers family
Tampa Tribune
Howard Altman
Tribune Staff
February 11, 2015

When the family of Korean War veteran Willie Mitchell Jr, went to bury the Palmetto man, who died Jan. 25 at age 81, their sorrow was compounded by shocking news.

Mitchell could not be laid to rest at Sarasota National Cemetery as planned, because when the family tried to schedule a burial they were told he died more than six years ago.

The error, it turned out, was the result of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee at the Boston regional office inputting the wrong Social Security number, giving a man who died in 2008 the same number as Mitchell, according to Michael Nacincik, spokesman for the VA’s National Cemetery Administration, which oversees burials at national cemeteries.

Mitchell, who served in the Army, is now scheduled to be buried at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Sarasota cemetery, but his family is upset over the ordeal.

“We are angry that we have to go through this all over again,” Brian Mitchell, of Tampa, said about having to rearrange his father’s funeral. The family is also upset that it took a call from a reporter to get a straight answer.

“No one contacted us to tell us what happened,” Brian Mitchell said.

Nacincik, in an email to The Tampa Tribune, apologized “for the inconvenience and additional stress to the family caused by extended time it took for us to determine burial eligibility. We are thankful for Mr. Mitchell’s service to our nation and are honored to provide him the burial he deserves this Friday at Sarasota National Cemetery in Florida.”
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