Is This The Treatment Veterans Should Expect From A National Cemetery?
Veteran's Affairs for Veteran's Day. Veteran's widow denied burial by Riverside National Cemetery. One year later deceased urn still remains at daughter's home. Cemetery Director, Gil Gallo, labelled insensitive when dealing with Veteran's Affairs.
Alta Loma, CA (PRWEB) November 12, 2008 -- All Sharon Hunt wanted to do was lay her mother to rest next to her father.
When she arrived at Riverside National Cemetery last year for a graveside service, she expected to place her mother's cremated remains alongside the grave where her father, a decorated Air Force pilot, had been buried almost a year to the day before.
It was only after that service, she says, that she was summoned to the cemetery's office and told she would have to take her mother's ashes someplace else.
"I was just stunned that they were denying my mother to be buried with her husband of almost 60 years," said Hunt. She was even more shocked that officials had not informed her ahead of time.
The Rancho Cucamonga resident says she was told that partial remains could not be accepted for burial at the cemetery. Because her family had retained some keepsake urns with a small amount of her mother's ashes, officials disqualified the interment.
"I was told it was a new policy," she says. "My mother was the first person they had decided to enforce this new policy on, with no warning. I asked to speak to the assistant director and I was told, 'Ma'am there's no recourse for you.' "
In fact, the rule that kept Hunt's mother's remains from being buried, was not a new one. Mike Nacinick, a spokesman for the National Cemetery Administration, said the rule was implemented among the 125 national cemeteries -- of which Riverside is the largest -- in 1997. It was initiated following reports that some service members' cremated remains were being split up and interred at more than one national cemetery.
Interestingly, Nacinick said that rule was modified on April 10 to accommodate situations such as Hunt's.
"People are now taking (cremated remains) and sprinkling part of them somewhere and they in essence end up with divided cremains," Nacinick said. "The new policy allows the VA to accept divided cremated remains if the state law accepts divided cremains. This seems to be working well for us."
Except for one problem. Nacinick, it seems, is one of the few people who know about the change.
None of the funeral homes contacted for this story was aware of the new policy. But then, neither was the administration at Riverside National Cemetery. Mary Jones, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles National Cemetery, said she was also unaware of the change.
Sharon Hunt said her problems with the cemetery weren't limited to the burial of her mother. When her father, a decorated pilot and a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, was buried in late 2006, the cemetery neglected to include his World War II status on his grave marker. Hunt said it took numerous letters and document submissions to the cemetery before the marker was changed more than a year and a half later.
"I really expect a written apology from (cemetery director) Gil Gallo for the insensitive way my family was treated by him and the staff of the cemetery," Hunt said.
To read full story or make comments on this situation please go to: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_ashes08.38a6ac9.html
###
Post Comment:
Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/Q291cC1TcXVhLUNyYXMtSGFsZi1UaGlyLVNpbmctWmVybw==
Bookmark -
Del.icio.us |
Furl It |
Technorati |
Ask |
MyWeb |
Propeller |
Live Bookmarks |
Newsvine |
TailRank |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
Digg |
Stumbleupon |
Google Bookmarks |
Sphere |
Blink It |
Spurl
|
