On Sept. 26, 2011 the Texas Land Commissioner, Jerry Patterson, announced that veterans and their
families will again be able to worship in the manner they want to use at the Houston National Cemetery.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to settle a lawsuit that had been filed claiming that
veterans and families were being denied to have religious ceremonies.
Patterson said "This is the right decision. Once again it was the veterans who stood up to fight
for the Constitutional liberties we all enjoy, this time it was in the court and not on the battlefield."
Veterans groups had claimed that VA officials had prohibited religious speech during services. The
VA will now ensure that there will be no more prohibition.
Patterson is also chairman of the Texas Veterans Land Board, and controls 3 Texas State Veterans
Cemeteries. In December work on a 4th cemetery near Corpus Christi, the Coastal Bend
State Veterans Cemetery should be completed.
"Any soldier, airman, sailor or Marine who signs up swears an oath before God," Patterson went
on to say "I am glad to hear that oath would now pass muster at the Houston National Cemetery."
Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"
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"And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades."
-- Robert M. Gates, 1996
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