Q: Exactly.
A: He wasn’t a doctor or anything, but he was an officer and he was probably some old boy they was trying to figure out something to do with.
We used to all have them come in, even the officer himself, say, “God, I didn’t know I screwed up that bad.”
Q: Was this a guy you’d worked with before? Somebody you knew real well?
A: No. Those guys come and go.
Q: I realize that. You don’t remember what his name was or anything like that?
A: No. I’m like Bob [Shirkey]. I think if I would see it or heard it or something I might. Those guys, they were in and out. The mortuary officer, usually they would appoint some sergeant or somebody. The only time the doctors were involved is when you’d have an embalming inspection or dress inspection where the doctors came in and examined the body to make sure everything was right. You had another inspection to make sure their dog tags, make sure all the medals and everything...
They always had two crews of inspectors. The doctors were only involved in the cause of death or the autopsies or identification process, dental charts and all that. After they did their work, then a doctor would always come in and make sure the body was embalmed because [they] know more about it than the other people. But they were involved before. You know.
Q: The reason they contacted you was because Burt Ballard’s funeral home up here had a contract with the base, right?
A: Yeah.