Rodney Cress, Veteran Advocate
♦ Senator Richard Burr from North Carolina is a strong advocate for veterans and he and his office are quick to assist if a veteran is in need of assistance. It was Senator Burr back in 2008 who worked with me to finally get MoH recipient Lorenzo Denning his rightful due marker at the Salisbury National cemetery.
I was recently contacted by Don Morfe of this organization, when he learned that I had been asked to serve on Senator Burr’s veterans committee. He asked if I could work with Senator Burr to try and get the law changed so that all Medal of Honor Recipients are eligible for a VA marker. As the law currently stands, only those who died on or after 1 Nov 1990 are eligible if they already have a private marker. All MoH Recipients are eligible for a VA marker if they are in an unmarked grave.
I contacted the Senators office and received a reply from Chad Sydnor, military legislative assistant for Senator Burr. As it turns out, the VA included the request in this year’s budget submission as is has done for the past 5 years. The wording reads:
“Allow for the Provision of Government Furnished Headstones and Markers for the Privately Marked Graves of Medal of Honor Recipients: This proposal would amend title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 2306(d), to allow VA to furnish headstones or markers for the privately marked graves of all eligible Medal of Honor recipients. Costs associated with this proposal are insignificant.
For reasons unknown, the VA committee has never acted on this and Senator Burr’s office plans to investigate as to why. I will of course keep everybody updated as things progress.
Update: It turns out that the reason the legislation has never been taken up is that no member of Congress has ever shown interest in the matter. Now that a member of Congress has shown interest, SVAC offered to include the matter in their next legislative hearing, whenever that occurs. The Congressional Budget Office will need to “score” the proposal as well, even though the VA has said the cost is minimal. No promises can be made but the committee was open to taking the matter up at the appropriate time.
From “Above and Beyond” Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States:
https://app.box.com/s/gt0mdl5kfgfzts84xav26d5taj6elsec
