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Tug of war over fallen marine

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Tug of war over fallen marine Cheryl Blanton of Fayetteville holds up photo of her nephew, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffery Blanton, who was killed in combat in Iraq, Dec. 12. The family clashed with wife, Amber Boyd, who plans to bury him in a national cemetery against family's wishes. Photo/Lee Williams.

A decision over where to bury the body of a U.S. Marine who was killed in combat in Iraq Dec. 12 has erupted into a fierce battle between the wife and the family of the fallen soldier.

The family of Jeffery Steven Blanton, a 23-year-old lance corporal who was killed in enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, during a house-to-house raid, requested Blanton’s body be buried in a family plot in Fayetteville.

The family also had hoped that Mowell Funeral Home would handle the funeral. But Amber Boyd, Blanton’s 21-year-old wife of 10 months, plans to ignore the family’s wishes, family members charged.

Boyd plans to bury Jeffery, a Marietta native, who lived in Senoia from age 11 to 19, in a national cemetery in Marietta, where his mother, Tracie Botts lives, or possibly the Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Blanton’s father, Steve, his wife, Donna Blanton, and the rest of the Blanton clan say they are furious.

“Evidently, she doesn’t care what the family’s opinion is,” Donna Blanton said seated around family at her modest Senoia home. “She’d rather stick him in a national cemetery with a bunch of strangers than in a paid cemetery plot with the rest of the Blanton family.”

Donna Blanton said Boyd refuses to speak to them directly, give out her telephone number or the name of her hotel. Instead she is using the U.S. Marines as her go-between, the family said.

“She said she didn’t want to have any conflict,” Donna Blanton said. “She’s going to put him where she thinks he wants to be buried at. How can she say she knows where he wants to be buried when she’s lived with him for only two months.”

Boyd has legal control over where Jeffery will be buried. Donna Blanton said Steve is devastated and depressed that his only natural-born child and only son will be buried at a place he can rarely visit.

“He can be honored as a hero at the family cemetery more so than at a national cemetery,” said a heated Donna Blanton, who occasionally called Boyd an uncomplimentary name to emphasis her frustration. “No one ever goes to a national cemetery just because they think it’s for heroes. At least if he’s buried here, his friends and family can come visit him now and 20 years from now and we can still see our son.”

The Blanton family say they have considered contacting a lawyer to override Boyd’s decision. They even tossed around the idea of getting the marriage between Boyd and Jeffery Blanton annulled, family members said.

Boyd, a paralegal in U.S. Army, was serving in Afghanistan, when she learned of her husband’s death. Jeffery Blanton, an anti-tank assaultman, was one of eight Marines killed last weekend in Iraq. She flew into Georgia this week to make funeral arrangements.

Boyd will meet Jeffery’s family for the first time since the couple married Feb. 29 in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The former highly-decorated Marine was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Cheryl Blanton, Jeffery’s aunt, who lives in Fayetteville, echoed Donna’s sentiments. She said Jeffery was a family-oriented guy, who should be buried with his family and not strangers.

“We were hoping he would be buried next to mommy and daddy,” Cheryl Blanton said referring to Jeffery’s grandparents. She said Boyd should discuss the matter with the family.

“She needs to take everybody’s feelings into consideration and then make a decision,” Cheryl Blanton said while standing over a brown coffee table Thursday. “She should keep an open mind and she should at least sit down and talk with us and let everybody give their opinion.”

Donna Blanton and other family members indicated the family is still grieving over Jeffery’s loss and Boyd’s decision is compounding their grief. She said she doesn’t even know if Jeffery’s body has arrived or anything about the funeral arrangements. That responsibility has been stripped from their hands, Donna Blanton added.

“A year from now she’ll be re-married. She’s from Pennsylvania and she’ll probably will never come down to visit him after the funeral,” Donna Blanton said. “I don’t know why she won’t let the family have him buried here. I don’t understand how she could be so cold-hearted.”

Donna Blanton said she wishes Boyd will reconsider for the sake of his father who barricaded himself in the room after learning of his daughter-in-law’s decision.

“Her life will go on, but Steve’s won’t,” Donna Blanton said. “This will affect his daddy for the rest of his life.”