Bill Text: HI HR195 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging the United States Congress and Department of Veterans Affairs to allow a third party with appropriate documentation to order a government headstone for the unmarked grave of a veteran.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-04-03 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HR195 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2014-HR195-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	195
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging the united states congress and department of veterans affairs to allow a third party with appropriate documentation to order a government headstone for the unmarked grave of a veteran.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, thousands of men and women have served in the Armed Services of the United States since the birth of the nation in 1776; and

 

     WHEREAS, many have paid the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives defending the freedoms that all citizens of the United States enjoy today; and

 

     WHEREAS, from 1861 to 1865, the issue of states' rights embroiled the United States in the Civil War, particularly those dealing with the issue of slavery, pitting the anti-slavery Union North against the pro-slavery Confederacy of the South; and

 

     WHEREAS, after four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult reconstruction process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing rights to freed slaves began; and

 

     WHEREAS, Private J.R. Kealoha was a Union soldier in the 41^st Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, and is believed to have participated in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, which ended in March 1865; and

 

     WHEREAS, the grave of Private J.R. Kealoha, currently located at the historic Oahu Cemetery, is completely unmarked; and

     WHEREAS, in 1879, Congress approved the furnishing of headstones for unmarked veterans' graves in private cemeteries; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, a government headstone or marker for the unmarked grave of any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery around the world, regardless of the veterans date of death, is furnished upon request, at no charge to the applicant with appropriate documentation; and

 

     WHEREAS, until 2012, a third party with appropriate documentation could order a government headstone for the unmarked grave of a veteran; and

 

     WHEREAS, this policy changed when the Department of Veterans Affairs adopted Code of Federal Regulations §38.632 in 2009, which took effect in 2012, to require that an application for a government headstone for an unmarked grave can only be made by the deceased veteran's next of kin, person authorized in writing by the veteran's next of kin, or personal representative authorized in writing by the veteran; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Veterans Affairs' 2009 policy change created an impossible and unnecessary burden for individuals and groups seeking to honor veterans, like Private J.R. Kealoha, who served many generations ago and are not likely to have descendants who would able to identify them; and

 

     WHEREAS, it is only fitting that we honor the men and women who served in the Armed Services of the United States by allowing headstones or markers to be placed on the unmarked graves of deceased veterans to designate their final resting place; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014, that the United States Congress and Department of Veterans Affairs are urged to allow a third party with appropriate documentation to order a government headstone for the unmarked grave of a veteran; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and Hawaii's Congressional delegation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Urging the United States Congress and Department of Veterans Affairs to allow a third party with appropriate documentation to order a government headstone for the unmarked grave of a veteran.