If you have a son or daughter in the military and they died, and the injuries where gruesome, would you want to view them or keep the casket closed?

[Danny_dan92]

I want to see them one last time

I rather not see

[WindAtMyBack]

If it's not their face I would want to see them. If it's their face, I don't know. I think I'd regret either decision.

Keep in mind that seeing the dead is not done in all cultures. Even within cultures it's not consistent. I know when my father moved from the south to the north, he was appalled when he first went to an open casket funeral. That was something he was not even aware was a thing.

By the way, I knew a guy whose job it was to identify soldiers who were too torn up to be identified by normal means. I knew him during the Vietnam era, so there was an active war going on. That job must have sucked.

[BoopBoopBeep]

I've touched enough dead bodies in my life that there's really nothing personal to them anymore. That's not my loved one in the box, it's just meat. When my time comes just dump my body on my property and let the raccoons I raised use me as calories for the winter.

[Apple1996]

I've thought about this with my husband if he ever died overseas. I think I'd want to see him one last time. If it was one of my son's I'm not sure I would be able to see them injured like that

[DeeDeeDeVour]

Sounds like a scene from the movie 'Last Flag Flying'.

Gruesome as it may be, I'd like to see the remains of a loved one.

[Danny_dan92]

Takes a lot to want to see that

[ShadezMcgee]

I would want to see them one last time and then cremate them. I would want to see them so I could explain what war does to soldiers and explain it to those who don't understand or take military personnel for granted so they don't have to do the fighting.

[Dinklex3]

I would already know what my daughter/son looks like and have zero interest in dead bodies. Closed.

[Danny_dan92]

Very well

[PeachyPie93]

I would want to see them, its my last time to see and say goodbye to my baby. I watch gore so I wouldn't really care I would want to see them, but depending if its super bad I would probably keep it closed casket for others.

[Hannajenky]

I just hope I never have to make this decision

[Danny_dan92]

Hanna…. You won’t have too

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

I think I have to be in that nightmare situation to really know what I'd want to do, but I lean towards "no". I don't think I'll ever get the image out of my mind; it'll likely haunt me for the rest of my life.

[Danny_dan92]

That’s kind of what I think most people would think. It’s a shitty situation cause naturally we want to see our loved one last time. But in that state? It’s rough.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

I have an unfortunate tendency of recalling memories in extremely vivid detail: not photographic by any stretch and very selective of the details. It's not necessarily precise but extremely vivid, as though I can hear and see everything.

Yet they play back in my mind as though I'm experiencing what happened in the memory very vividly all over again. Sometimes it has an enjoyable effect, like I tend to confuse my wife when I suddenly burst out laughing out of nowhere. Then she asks me what's so funny and I told her I remembered a comedy sketch. She then asks me if I recently saw a comedy sketch and I respond, "No, I think I watched it maybe 30 years ago?" These things pop into my head randomly.

Yet it's very deeply upsetting when it's a traumatic memory, experiencing things all over again. Even if I've moved on like I've made peace with the memory and reframed my thoughts around it, it's still so vivid that I have to experience the trauma all over again.

So I'm not sure I'm cut out to witness that. It will have a tendency to play back in my head out of the blue, maybe even decades later, so vividly.

[Phoenix98]

I'm not really sure I'm not a father so I can't really speak on it but my father was in the military and if he died in the line of duty I'd probably want to see him again one last time if the face wasn't messed up.