Poll: Would you pay $250 to pay for a proper military burial for someone you do not know?

[The Enquirer]

So I was driving to school this morning and eventually the regular music station I listen to cuts out so I switch to a talk radio station. This morning something came on that's an interesting topic of discussion. In New Jersey, and all across the United States, and probably many other countries, there are hundreds of unclaimed remains of military veterans, some found after research to be dating back to the First World War. No one has claimed them and there are no signs anyone will. Many of these people do not have any remaining family who would know about them or even care enough to claim them.

The $250 donation ensures that they get a proper and well done military burial.

http://www.njsmissionofhonor.org/

If you scroll down you come to pictures of boxes and some pots in what appears to be an attic. This is where these remains are being kept for the time being (yes, they are cremated). So something in addition to the pole question I am wondering here is that would you be willing, regardless of state or country, have something done to give people who gave everything to defend your county proper burial, whether it be increased taxes temporarily, or should it be a privatized matter to bury these people? If you think something should be done on a broad matter (not privatized), what should be done and what would you be willing to do?

 

[omega 616]

I don't think I would go whole hog and pay $250 to bury a guy I don't know. If there was a dude who had done some impressive stuff, I'd certainly throw the dude a bone if I could.

I don't mean to nasty but the guys who were the first to charge off the boats on D day, didn't actually do much... They allowed other soldiers to advance but all they did was die (was like "operation meat shield" ). If a guy did something that made you go "Daym, dude is THE manly man!" then I think he should have a big ass ceremony.

Although, I think people in WW1 AND WW2 are fucking hero's but these modern day wars seem more like bullies.

 

[Miss G.]

We don't even have a military, so I might think about it more if they were of the ones that fought in WWI and/or WWII, since they used my country as a base for flight training and submarines and their protection was appreciated. Everything war related after that seems like the poster above me says, bullying.

 

[Mike Richards]

While I'd like to say yes on principle alone as it stands I've barely got $250 to spend on anything, so there's that.

Not to mention that unfortunately you have to pick your battles when it comes to supporting charitable causes. Very few people are capable of pitching in for every good cause that comes their way, so most of us have to prioritize the things that for whatever reason mean the most to us. Quite frankly there are other matters I would see to first, not because I don't value this idea, but simply because they either are or are related to things that I'm very passionate about.

So, no, but not because I don't want to, I guess.

 

[Muspelheim]

I'd be prepared to pay a Decent Burial for Dead Soldiers Tax. Certainly. It really ought to be something that a soldier can count on, at least. If they have somehow fallen beneath the cracks and haven't been given a proper military funeral since the Great War, it is really about time now.

Within reason, though, of course. If some remains from the 1676 Battle of Lund or something were to be found, I do think it'd be satisfactory to just ensure the bones are properly handled and reburied. Perhaps with a ceremony encompassing all of them.
Mainly because Europe, and many other places, of course, must be littered with bones from killed soldiers. At some point, individual ceremonies for them all would be a bit too much.

 

[SwimmingRock]

I don't honestly see a point to burials. I give a grand total of 0 fucks about what happens to my corpse once I'm dead. Person's already dead, so what possible good could it do them? Way I see it, a funeral is for the living to say their goodbyes, which isn't relevant when it comes to unclaimed/unidentified remains. So I voted no, because I don't see any point.

 

[DanielBrown]

Shouldn't that money come from the government? Isn't that part of what military taxes are for?
Considering the obsceeeeeeene amounts the US spends on it's military it shouldn't be too much to ask.

Uuh, I really don't know about all this. I wouldn't pay and being Swedish we don't really have a problem with soldiers MIA, so I can't relate either. If these people presumebly doesn't have a family I can't see the point at all. Graves are pretty much only ment for the family. If they don't have one you might as well pour the ashes in a memory grove(no English translation found, but it's areas in the cemetary where you spread the ashes or bury the urn... Memory lane?).

 

[Quaxar]

We don't even have a military

Well you have a navy, don't you? Although I imagine it is quite hard to be in it what with only 5 ships and three aircraft.

OT: I can't imagine many people would shell out 250 quid for something like that. Hell, I can't even imagine many would give 100 quid, even if it'd make them the recipient of the first ever kitten-puppy amalgamation.
What this needs is some kind of kickstarter to have them done in some sort of mass military burial.

 

[Scarim Coral]

While I would say yes but I wouldn't pay that much! That army person joined the militery so I do have some respected for that person is alot braver than me and was willing to died for his/ her country.

 

[Vykrel]

id pay for the funeral of a soldier whose family couldnt afford one, but thats because funerals are for the living, not the dead. all of these unclaimed individuals are not going to be upset knowing that they never had a funeral, but the families of soldiers who cant afford a proper funeral will probably feel bad about it.

theres no point in paying for a funeral that nobody is going to show up to.

 

[Raikas]

I feel like that's something that should have been taken care of out of some tax-funded general military budget. It's a little baffling that it hasn't been done. I mean, next year is the WWI centennial, surely storing those remains for a century has had more cost than just burying them to begin with, no?

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

No. Burials only benefit the loved ones of the deceased as a ceremony of mourning. A burial of an unidentified and unclaimed person is useless as there are no loved ones to be mourning.

 

[Yopaz]

250 is almost what I spend each month on food (that's quite little considering the prices here) and I am still barely able to make all the bills of the month. So no, I would not spend that much on burying someone I don't know. I'm simply too poor to give to charity. I live in a crappy apartment, I eat the cheapest things I can find that is still somewhat healthy and I struggle to make ends meet. Basically, I wouldn't be able to eat if I were to pay that.

Edit: Also as others have stated, the person is dead. No-one knows who he is. A proper burial won't ease the pain for anyone and the guy will still be an unidentified dead person.

 

[babinro]

I don't make the kind of money to afford frivolous spending like that.
I wouldn't even pay that for a someone I do know.

I just don't see what warrants a special burial. These people have entered a chosen profession for their own reasons. Their death on the job is no more impactful to me than any other job that involves hazard pay due to dangerous situations.

I don't mean to disrespect anyone here. I simply feel they should be treated as equals.
To be buried like the rest of us is nothing to feel ashamed about.

 

[Darknacht]

People should not be preserved and buried in coffins, if you really must bury them they should be put somewhere that they want waste any space and cremated people should be scattered not stored. I would not pay to have them stored in a dumber more wasteful way, but I would pay to have their ashes scattered.

 

[Naeras]

Why would I? These guys are dead. They don't really care that much.

I know a burial is some kind of "important ritual" for people, but it really isn't for me.

 

[Exterminas]

The funeral industry has got to be one of the biggest scams currently still legal on this planet.

They exploit people in a moment of personal weakness and tragedy in order to bill them obscene sums of money for absolutely nothing. "Oh, sure, you can buy the cardboard coffin for 1000 Bucks. But there is also this expensive model!" After all you don't burry people you love in paper boxes!

Funerals are even a bigger scam than Christmas when it comes to injecting people with an artificial sense of duty to get their money. I wish there was something like MacDeath, where you can get a basic funeral for little money and little trouble. You know, just a basic hole in the ground and a box to put the ash in. Or just any way to get rid of the remains without pouring them into some river. I may sound very cruel on this one, but arranging a full-blown funeral easily costs 10.000 bucks and you are basically just getting a hole in the ground for that money. The dead ones don't care. They are dead.

If anything, funerals are for the living and I don't want to deny anybody the right to have a ceremony, if it eases their feelings. I am just under the impression that a lot of these feelings are the product of a powerful industry instilling you with the vision of what a constitutes a decent funeral.

 

[Tayh]

We don't have the whole military worshipping complex here in Denmark, so I doubt anyone would pay that much for someone they didn't know or was in any way related to.