Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 03/25/2002

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
Your column of 2/11/02 offered the best explanation of GI burials yet. But in your reference to busiest VA cemeteries, you referred to Fort Custer, Miss. It actually is Fort Custer, Mich. 

Thanks.
Miller 
Via Internet

Dear Miller:
Thanks for the naming the correct state. Read on.

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
Thank you for informing your readers about the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) burial benefits for veterans and their families. VA operates 120 national cemeteries throughout the country and in Puerto Rico. 

Burial in a state veterans cemetery offers another honorable way to memorialize our Nation's heroes - one which VA supports with an increasing number of grants to states. Your letter writer from Rockville, Md., might like to know that Maryland has five state veterans cemeteries that VA helped to develop.

There are 48 state veterans cemeteries operating in 26 states that have received Federal grants for construction, expansion or improvement; three states in the process of building new cemeteries; and ten states and territories that have applied for grants to build veterans cemeteries.

In 2001, VA granted a record $25 million for construction, expansion and improvement of state veterans cemeteries - a fifth of the total given during the entire history of the State Cemetery Grants Program, which was started in 1981. In FY 2002, another $25 million was appropriated. The President's 2003 budget proposal requests an increase to $32 million for the program.

State veterans cemeteries complement the Federal system of national cemeteries, and provide veterans and their families with an alternative burial location. VA funds state veterans cemeteries to meet the need for veteran burial space in areas where there are no national cemeteries available, or national cemeteries are closed due to lack of space. National cemeteries and grant-aided state veterans cemeteries performed more than 100,000 burials last year.

Your readers will find up-to-date information about VA's national cemeteries on our web site at www.cem.va.gov. On the web site, readers will note that we opened our 120th national cemetery, Fort Sill National Cemetery, in Oklahoma last November. They will also notice that due to a change in law, VA can now provide a Government headstone and marker for any eligible veteran's grave - even if the grave is already marked with a private monument, providing he or she dies after December 27, 2001, the date of enactment of the law.

Semper Fi.
Robin L. Higgins
Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs
Department of Veterans Affairs

Dear Marine:
Thanks for apprising my readers of your special program. I thought you might be interested in the following kudo. Semper Fi.

Shaft Kudos
A sharp salute to Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-NC) for introducing H.R. 3478, a Bill that would change the name of the Secretary of the Navy to the Secretary of the Navy and Marine Corps. This legislation seeks to better recognize the inseparable nature of the Navy and Marine Corps team by redesignating the title of the Secretary. "For over 226 years the Navy and Marine Corps have operated as one unit in the defense of our Nation's Interests," says Rep. Jones. "Similarly the Secretary of the Navy has had the responsibility, but not the title of representing the men and women of the United States Marine Corps. This legislation is not about changing the responsibilities of the Secretary or altering the course of the mission at hand. It is instead about highlighting for the nation the dual duties of the Secretary as well as the overall importance of the Marine Corps to our national security." 

The bill had garnered tremendous bipartisan support in the House including many senior defense leaders. The original backers of the legislation include: Gil Gutknecht, John Murtha, Wayne Gilchrest, Lane Evans, Amo Houghton, Bob Underwood, Jim Hansen, Jim Traficant, Charlie Norwood, Mark Capuano, Jim Gibbons, Ralph Hall, Dana Rohrabacher, John Hostettler, Neil Abercrombie, Duncan Hunter, Mike McIntyre, Lindsey Graham, Curt Weldon, Saxby Chambliss, Tom Delay, John Cooksey, JD Hayworth, John Spratt, Chip Pickering and C.L, "Butch" Otter.

Another Shaft kudos goes to Vice Admiral Norbert R. Ryan, Jr., USN, recently named the new president of the Reserve Officers Association, headquartered in Arlington, VA. He succeeds Lt. Gen. Michael A. Nelson, USAF (Ret.), who had been president since 1995. When Ryan retires from the Navy later this year, he will become TROA's ninth president in its 73-year history. He has commanded aviation units at the squadron, wing, and fleet levels, and has directed the Navy's Office of Legislative Affairs. He currently serves as the Chief of Naval Personnel. TROA is the nation's largest association for military officers and their families, with 387,000 members. Membership is open to active duty, Reserve, Guard, former, and retired warrant and commissioned officers and surviving spouses from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, U.S. Public Health Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Marines and Marine wannabes may be interested in a lecture featuring David M. Sullivan discussing his books on variety of campaigns and individuals at the National Archives, Tuesday, March 26. Mr. Sullivan will discuss his four volume series, The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War. Spending more than twenty-five years researching this series, Sullivan used letters, diaries, journals, and other primary resources to describe the exploits of the Corps and its impact on the American Civil War. A member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Confederate History, he has published over fifty articles on the history of the United States and Confederate States Marine  Corps. 7 p.m. The event will be held at 7 p.m. at the National Archives, Room 105, 700 Pennsylvania  Avenue, NW, in Washington DC just off The Mall, The lectures is free of charge, but you must make a reservation by calling Mr. Sam Anthony, the National Archives Director of Lecture Programs at (202) 208-7345.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

BAVF Home | Who We Are | Sgt. Shaft | Flag Week | Links | Financials | Search | Contact BAVF

BAVF - P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900

Copyright BAVF 2002