Nov 19, 2019
41 years ago today, the Jonestown massacre claimed the lives of 918 Americans. When the people of Jonestown died, their bodies remained where they fell for four days. Sprayed with pesticides and sealed in military-issued body bags, their remains were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for processing. Of the dead, 593 were eventually identified. The remaining 320, many of them children, were never identified. As grieving families struggled to reclaim their loved ones, 409 bodies were left unclaimed, buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland California. This is a memorial for those who died on November 18, 1978. At Ground Zero, the names of 9/11 victims are read aloud every year. But for Jonestown, there has never been a national moment of mourning, no reading of names, only silence.