Confederate Soldiers are American Veterans by Act of Congress
Sign the Petition to amend the VA's Next-Of-Kin Rules here:
More info:
Group Forms To Amend VA’s Next-Of-Kin Rules
(July 2013 Civil War News)
(July 2013 Civil War News)
"A
new organization that aims to change a federal regulation making it
difficult to get government headstones for unmarked veterans’ graves has
started an online petition campaign. According to Mark Their Graves,
the Department of Veterans Affairs began enforcing a rarely-used
regulation last year that, in effect, shuts down its Headstones and
Markers Program.
The
rule – Code of Federal Regulation section 38.632-(1) – precludes
veterans’ groups, cemeteries, researchers and others from applying for
government markers that identify the final resting places of military
veterans unless they have permission from the veteran’s next of kin.
“This creates an impossible and unnecessary burden for groups seeking to
honor veterans who served generations ago in conflicts like the Civil
War, Spanish American War and even World War I,” says the group.
Committee members ask the public to sign the petition at www.marktheirgraves.org and to contact their representatives in Washington and urge them to change the regulation.
The
effort is supported by the Civil War Trust, Ohio Historical Society,
New York State Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee and the North Shore
Civil War Roundtable. Members include: Jeffrey I. Richman, Green-Wood
Cemetery historian and North Shore Civil War Roundtable trustee; William
Finlayson, president, Civil War Round Table of New York and North Shore
Civil War Roundtable trustee; Robert MacAvoy, co-author of Our Brothers Gone Before
and member, New Jersey Sesquicentennial Committee; Also, George J.
Weinmann, vice president and instructor, Greenpoint Monitor Museum; Vance
Ingram, president, New York State Sesquicentennial Committee and
Friends of the New York State Military Museum; Andrew Athanas,
president, North Shore Civil War Roundtable; And, William Styple,
author, Kearny (NJ) town historian; member, New Jersey Sesquicentennial
Committee and Co. E, 15th New Jersey Infantry; and Bruce L. Sirak,
president, Camp Olden Civil War Round Table & Museum; member, New
Jersey Sesquicentennial Committee.
The
regulation’s effect can be seen at Brooklyn’s Historic Green-Wood
Cemetery. In the past it successfully applied for and received 2,000
gravestones for Civil War veterans who researchers found to be in
unmarked graves. Now, Green-Wood’s applications are being rejected, as
are those of other researchers.
The
petition is addressed to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.
It protests the redefinition of “applicant” as “next of kin” and
implores the VA to limit the new regulation by “making it inapplicable
to veterans who served more than 62 years ago — so that the veterans who
now lie in unmarked graves can have a thankful nation mark where they
lie, in tribute to their service.”
Within
one week of the Mark Their Graves launch, almost 500 people had signed
the petition. At presstime it had more than 900 signers. Although Steve Muro, under secretary for
memorial affairs at the Veterans Administration, on April 10 told a
Congressional subcommittee “We are actually looking at that reg. And we
are going to do some rewrites of it … they made it over restrictive,”
the committee says pressure must be brought to bear on the VA to amend
the regulation.
Among
the veterans denied government markers because of the regulation were
Civil War veterans George Stillie and William Peter Strickland. Stillie
(1839-1919) served in the United States Navy aboard the USS North
Carolina, USS Valley City, USS Fernandina and USS Roebuck. He is buried
in Melbourne, Australia. His wife predeceased him and their only child
died in New Zealand in 1912. Strickland (1809-1884), chaplain of the
48th New York Infantry for two years, believed that serving the Union
was “the most sacred duty of every liberty-loving American citizen.” He
is interred in Green-Wood Cemetery."
Susan Hathaway
Va Flaggers
No comments:
Post a Comment