Bill would outlaw Arlington burial reservations - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Bill would outlaw Arlington burial reservations

A House subcommittee is poised to cancel 3,500 gravesite reservations for Arlington National Cemetery, requests that violate a 1962 Army policy and are offensive to major veterans organizations.

The new management at the nation’s most hallowed cemetery already has announced it will not honor the reservations, but the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s disability assistance and memorial affairs panel wants to make sure by declaring the process illegal.

Under the proposed bill, HR 1441, only reservations made before Jan. 1, 1962, will be honored. That date is when Army regulations barring reservations took effect. The bill would grandfather requests made before 1962, but the Army is asking for a modification permitting only reservations approved before that date, not just requested.

The bill also would bar assignment of more than one grave per family, which would codify current policy. Army officials also have asked for this provision to be modified because some older graves are not deep enough to accommodate three or four other burials, said Kathryn Condon, the Army National Cemeteries Program executive director.

The subcommittee is scheduled to pass the bill Thursday. The chief sponsor is Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., the subcommittee chairman.

Christina Roof of AMVETS called reservations “objectionable” and “disgraceful.”

“One’s status in life should not determine their eligibility of interment over anyone else’s,” she said.

Shane Barker of Veterans of Foreign Wars said the bill “is long overdue.”

“Burial at Arlington National Cemetery is a tremendous honor that depends on honorable service, not rank,” Barker said.