"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."

Many, many years ago, cremation had been thought to be so unnatural and extreme that cremation societies and other advocacy groups were formed to "lobby" for its greater practice. Health benefits were cited as reasons to cremate as well as ecological ones. What about the thought of leaving more land for the living and taking less for the dead? Even 100 years ago, only 1% of deaths in the United States involved cremation.

Today the cremation is preferred by almost 50% of living Americans. There are at least 2,000 crematories within the United States and Canada and they will approach a number of 1 million cremations. The subject of "what happens to the human body is one that many people don't want to talk about and yet there are many who wonder...

I must warn you that some portions of this writing will not be pleasant...

About fifteen years ago I was on a "trip of a lifetime," with a group of friends, to the Bavaria Alps and the trip included parts of Austria, Germany and Italy and I just knew that when I got to Salzburg Julie Andrews would appear and sing to me... Well, I did not see her and even more sobering was the day trip I took into southern Germany. I visited what was once the Nazi German concentration camp located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about ten miles northwest of Munich in southern Germany.

The Dachau concentration camp was the first regular concentration camp established by the National Socialist (Nazi) government. It opened in March, 1933. Between that date and the end of April, 1945, over 200,000 prisoners were housed in Dachau. Thousands of those died and something had to be done with the bodies.s One of the friends on that trip was a cremation expert of current cremation processes who looked at Dachau with a different view than my military history view point. As we looked at the "ovens" or crematories there he explained how the facial skin and hair is the first to go as the body is pushed into the chamber. You can see it melt away. Stop!

There is no comparison between the crematories of the Nazi regime and those of the modern-day funeral homes. But the crematory at Dachau was my first experience with the "death and dying" process.

The modern-day process begins with the pre-need for the individual indicating that cremation is desired. Even then signatures are needed and the process is delayed for up to 24 hours or more in most states because cremation is irreversible... Next, the funeral director or crematory operator must remove any items not wished to be cremated with the body such as jewelry. It is also important at that time to remove any pacemaker, internal defibrillator or other battery powered medical device. Some of those batteries explode during cremation, if left in place. Even though most bodies are cremated in a cremation container which is basically a large but sturdy cardboard box, cremation may be done in a cremation casket usually made of wood. Either type container must be able to burn easily.

Each body is cremated separately from start to finish so as to ensure that there will be no mix up in the correct ashes for the correct named person.

The cremation container is placed into the cremation chamber from the end by pushing it in. The door is closed. The cremation chamber is lined with fire resistant bricks on the ceiling and walls and the floor is made from a special masonry compound designed to withstand very high temperatures. The burners within the cremation unit are usually fueled by either natural gas or propane. Temperatures will often reach the 1800°F - 2000°F range.

Depending on the size/weight of the deceased and the equipment design, it will take 1 to 3 hours for the body to be completely reduced to bone fragments once cremation begins. After the cremation process is complete, a cool down period is necessary before the bone fragments can be further processed. Once the cremated remains can be extracted from the cremator they are viewed to ensure that there is no metal debris such as surgical screws, pins and/or titanium joint implants remaining. If so they are removed. The remaining bone fragments are then placed in a special processor which is somewhat similar to a larger than usual food processor or disposal unit one would find under the kitchen sink. The processor then pulverizes the bone fragments to a fine powder called cremains (cremated remains) or simply ashes.

The remains are then placed in a plastic bag and temporary cremation container or an urn provided by the family. The ashes are then returned to the family or taken to the site where the final committal will take place.

Author's information:

J. WAYNE CAMPBELL came to the funeral industry in 2003 after a highly successful career as a full-time National Guardsman, retiring as a full-Colonel. Mr. Campbell is a Stephen Minister, a Presbyterian Deacon and Elder and a Family Support Volunteer for Hospice of Wake County. For more information on cremation and related processes, please visit us at www.cremation.com