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Friday, March 24, 2006
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Army keeps promise to Mustonen
Associate Editor Whether it was spoken or not, the U.S. Army made a commitment to World War II Airman Leo Mustonen - a promise it would make every effort to bring him home.
Shari Lawrence, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Va., said that commitment to fully account for every soldier as best it can is why the Defense Department sent her to assist Mustonen's family in Brainerd this week.
"What we do is for the families," she said Thursday afternoon hours before Mustonen's visitation at the Nelson-Doran Funeral Home. "We will recover or account for every soldier as soon as we can."
Sometimes the process takes decades. Sometimes it takes centuries. Lawrence once worked on a case in which the bodies of U.S. soldiers in the War of 1812 were found during an excavation in Fort Erie, Canada. While the individual soldiers were not identified it was determined that they were soldiers in that war against the British.
While discovering the bodies of soldiers, years after the conflict, is sad, it brings closure to families.
"When you don't have anything to bring home, it's 10 times worse," she said.
Lawrence assists the families of fallen military personnel but normally doesn't travel to attend the funeral. The Mustonen funeral was an exception because of intense media interest in the case. She said media outlets from Hawaii to Washington, D.C., have expressed interest in the case. The fallen aviation cadet's remains have traveled from California, where he was found, to Hawaii for analysis and finally to Brainerd.
Media outlets that have made inquiries to her include the Brainerd Dispatch, People magazine, ABC, CNN, the Associated Press, the Star Tribune, NBC, CBS, the Honolulu Advertiser, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Fresno Bee.
The heightened media interest was also felt in the busy First Lutheran Church office of Arlene Heal, secretary for the church that will be the site of Mustonen's 1 p.m. Friday funeral.
She said she received about half a dozen media inquiries on Thursday and said the office atmosphere was "a little nuttier than usual," but added that the staff thrived in that sort of environment.
The general disarray at First Lutheran was heightened by the fact that the offices have been temporarily relocated from the first to third floor because of a church construction project.
Reflecting the international nature of this story, Brainerd Dispatch Staff Writer Jodie Tweed fielded a call from Paivi Sinisalo, a correspondent for the second largest newspaper in Finland. Sinisalo has covered the Mustonen story since his body was discovered in October. She said the story of the son of Finnish immigrants who was found in the Sierra Nevada mountain range was front page news in her paper.
Her story can be read (in Finnish) at www.iltasanomat.fi.
For the family of Leo Mustonen and for those who follow the news stories about him, the recovery of his body and his long journey home brings closure to a World War II mystery. It also allows the U.S. military to make good its commitment to make every effort to account for every soldier.
"I think, as a nation, it's extremely important," Lawrence said. "These are our soldiers."
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