Pilot of Hijacked Jet Denied Hero’s Burial

As a military family, the Burlingames understand honor, duty and sacrifice. They can’t understand why Charles Frank Burlingame III doesn’t deserve a hero’s burial.

The former F-4 Phantom jet pilot and Navy reservist was at the controls of American Airlines flight 77 on Sept. 11 before it was hijacked and rammed into the Pentagon.

He was praised as a hero by President Bush, who described him and the others who died that day as the first casualties of a new war.

Burlingame’s family, formerly of Anaheim, believe he died defending his plane, his crew, his passengers and his country--actions that along with 25 years of service to the Navy have earned him a plot at Arlington National Cemetery.

“We know he’s an an American hero,” said his brother, Bradley.

But the Army, which runs Arlington, says Burlingame, who would have been 52 on Sept. 12, died too young.

After serving for 137 years as the final resting place for the country’s heroes, Arlington now holds more than 260,000 of the nation’s dead. Space is growing scarce. So the Army recently decided to require that retired reservists be at least 60 years old before being eligible for burial there.

In October, Burlington’s sister, Debra, a Los Angeles attorney, wrote to Thomas E. White, secretary of the Army, asking him to make an exception.

“Because his life was cut short by a band of cowards with an evil purpose,” the letter read, “--a deed our own commander-in-chief is calling an ‘act of war,’--my brother didn’t make it to his 60th birthday.”

Reginald Brown, an assistant secretary to White, replied on White’s behalf in a Nov. 7 letter: “After careful consideration, he has decided to adhere to the established criteria for ground burial at Arlington National Cemetery.”

Before the rule change, Burlingame would have qualified for a burial in his own plot. Now, the family was told, Burlingame could be buried at Arlington only in the plot of his mother and father. His father, Charles Frank Burlingame Jr., served in the Navy during World War II, and later in the Air Force.

But the Burlingames said the current rules would prohibit the pilot from having his own headstone. And Shari Burlingame, Charles’ widow, could not be buried next to her husband in the family plot.

“That’s how the military typically treats minor dependents of people buried at Arlington,” Bradley Burlingame said. “It’s certainly not what’s deserving of an American hero who died in combat.”

The story drew national attention Wednesday after a story in the Washington Post triggered early reports that the Army had reversed its decision.

But at an afternoon news conference, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke said there had been no change. “What I can tell you is that the Army has worked hard over the last couple days to work through this with them, and our understanding is that the family is happy with this resolution.”

“That’s absolutely not true,” said Debra Burlingame. “We have agreed to let his widow pursue that option only if there is no other recourse, but we think he deserves his own grave and his own headstone.”

The Post reported in its Thursday edition that congressional leaders were working on legislation to remove the age limit for burial at Arlington.

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said Burlingame could have his own plot either through legislation or by a presidential waiver.

“One of those options, I’m confident, will achieve the goals of his family in a very meritorious and unique situation,” Warner told the Post.

The Burlingames were also denied a request to have Navy jets perform a “missing man” flyover at the burial.

“That was a crushing blow,” Bradley Burlingame said, “made more painful when we saw that the Navy flew a Hollywood actor from L.A. to San Diego for a movie premiere in an F-18.”

An Army source said limited space at Arlington makes strict adherence to the rules necessary.

“We don’t have a blanket ‘no exceptions’ policy, but the Army is charged with maintaining the integrity of Arlington,” he said, “and we have to do that by following the spirit and the letter of the law.”

That answer rang hollow in Anaheim, where Burlingame attended high school more than 30 years ago and where he is now seen as a national hero.

“He, for all intents and purposes, sacrificed his life in support of the ideals that we hold dear,” said Anaheim High School Principal Carl Hecht.

Hecht is overseeing plans for a memorial fountain in memory of Burlingame--who lived in Oak Hill, Va.--and other graduates who served in the armed forces.

“He should definitely get his own plot,” Hecht said.