Congess asking about problems at Arlington

On Thursday they House of Representatives passed a bill that will require the Secretary of the Army
to provide Congress a full accounting of all 320,000 graves in Arlington National Cemetery. The Senate had already passed the legislation.

Following several scandals at Arlington, including unmarked or mislabeled graves in three of the seventy sections. It was also shown that at least four burial urns were dug up and dumped in a pile of dirt. More problems were uncovered including eight cremated remains that were placed in one grave.

The bill would also require a complete review of the contracts issued to digitize the paper records
of the cemetery. It would also conduct a study to determine if the authority and running of the cemetery should remain with the Army or turned over to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Senator Claire McKasill (MO) said  that the bill "will provide the congressional oversight we need
to ensure we fix any errors as quickly as possible."

Now that Congress has acted swiftly, we can only hope that the followup investigation is done as
swiftly, and as correctly as possible.

Our heroes deserve the proper recognition and honor and respect of our country. They gave their
all in our defense, now let us defend them.

Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"




---------------- "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

More Bad News re: Arlington National Cemetery

And the news gets worse and the count goes up at Arlington National Cemetery. Who knows
how bad it actually is.

According to report by Senator Claire McCaskill between 4,900 to 6,600 graves may be unmarked, improperly marked or mislabeled on the cemetery maps.

Last month the Army examined a small section of the cemetery and declared possibly 211 graves
were marked incorrectly. The cemetery still uses paper records, after spending nearly $5.5 million over the last seven years to create a computer system to keep track of the records,
which so far has been unsuccessful.

"We've lost the bodies of our fallen heroes, we've got cremated remains, and we don't even know who they belong to, turning up in the field. Did you ever write that up? Did that ever go up the chain of command? Did the chief of staff of the Army ever see a document from you that we've got a problem, we've found cremated remains and we don't know where they belong?" McCaskill asked.

There have been no reviews for over a decade, and there was not audit taken to ensure contracts
were being followed, and that contracts were at a fair price.

Former Superintendent John Metzler and his deputy Thurman Higginbotham were both called
to testify at the hearing. Both were forced to retire following the review. The report by the Army Inspector General's office accused Metzler of repeatedly failing to ensure burials were being done properly and of failing to respond after unmarked graves were discovered.

Metzler stated that a 35 percent reduction in staff, and the complexity of handling 6,000 burials
a year contributed to the problems.

"Those staffing losses were to be offset by increased opportunities for outsourcing to private contractors," Metzler stated. "As experience has shown, however, that approach does not always result in the most effective or efficient solution."

In addition to military funerals the cemetery also includes the graves of former presidents
and U.S. Supreme Court justices.

"We owe our veterans better," McCaskill said Thursday. "We owe their families better. We owe better to the Americans who expect their government to not fritter away their money on wasteful contracts. And the officials who let this happen — whether through ignorance, incompetence, or denial — need to be held accountable."

Such treatment of our fallen heroes is beyond contempt and is just one more blot on the
horrible record our caring for our country's veterans and deceased military members. There
is no excuse for such shabby and uncaring; and it seems unending maltreatment of those
who served our country.

Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"





----------------"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