Posted on 08/19/2015 4:01:51 AM PDT by Daffynition
GAINESVILLE, Mo. —The federal Department of Veterans Affairs' inspector general is investigating reports that a southern Missouri patio and staircase is made out of military gravestones.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Navy veteran Ed Harkreader, of Mountain Home, Arkansas, posted on social media last week photographs of the arrangement he found on property in Ozark County, near the Arkansas line.
Chris Erbe is a spokesman for the National Cemetery Administration in Washington. He said the VA's inspector general's office is investigating. Erbe added that military headstones periodically are replaced, but old stones are supposed to be destroyed.
(Excerpt) Read more at kmbc.com ...
Didn’t 60 minutes do a show on this years ago?
Is it so bad that these veteran’s be remembered in such a setting? I think not.
Very nice memorial. Never heard that the old stones were supposed to be destroyed. I think it was just assumed. And I believe the stones legally belong to the family. There was a lawsuit c 1930.
from the photos it appears the stones are in pretty good shape. Why was it necessary to replace them
I don’t know the answer. ;(
Don’t know....I just recently got a teevee.
Depends on the setting.
Yes. It is.
“from the photos it appears the stones are in pretty good shape. Why was it necessary to replace them”
Those are horizontal markers that lay flat on the ground. The last time I was at a National Veterans’ cemetery, all the gravestones were the vertical type.
It is possible the style is being changed from one to the other, and the stones replaced regardless of condition.
Even if this homeowner came by these legitimately, this seems quite disrespectful.
Absolutely disrespectful.
Headstones were manufactured by the Chaney Monument Works operation, which produced military head stones until 2005. A company spokesman? owner? reportedly has no idea how rejected material (appears to be tons quantity) left the property. Video at:
Had he installed them blank side showing, no one would have known. Still not right. But installing them with the inscriptions showing is an insult, doesn’t matter they were never “official”, they represent of one of America’s finest.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.