From the ANC website:
“Floral Tributes at Gravesites
Fresh cut flowers may be placed on graves at any time.
Artificial flowers may be placed on graves October 10th through April 15th.
Planting of flowers, shrubs, etc. is prohibited.
Potted plants are permitted during the period 10 days before and 10 days after Easter.
Christmas wreaths are permitted during the Christmas season.
Floral items will be removed from the graves as soon as they become faded and unsightly.
Statues, vigil lights, flags, etc. and any type of commemorative items are not permitted on graves except for flags placed on the graves by the government.
Floral items and other types of decorations are not to be secured to the headstone or marker.
There will be a general cleanup of all floral items on graves 10 days after each holiday-Easter, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day.”
I also contacted a ranking member of The Old Guard Association (TOGA) who is very knowledgeable in these matters who sent me the following email:
“Having been to a number of funerals in Section 60 (or any other section that I've seen), I can tell you that no one is removing anything from the gravesites during the opening hours of ANC. As I noted previously, it is ANC policy to remove items from gravesites after the allowable period of time. Also, as to record keeping of grave markers, ANC has a data bank, backed up by a card system backed up by a file on each grave. It works as last week during Ray K's funeral, one of our TOGA directors (who worked there after his retirement from active duty) went to the ANC Admin building to see if a service colleague's wife was buried there. A quick click of the computer produced the name and location of the grave and when we stopped by, it was clearly marked as the correct one.”
Rimorel, you and several other commenters on this thread are absolutely correct. These Salon articles are gross exaggerations or just outright lies. I'm sorry I fell for them and posted this crap getting people riled up for no reason - I should have known better. As for the commemorative items people are placing on graves, they are causing the clutter in violation of posted regulations and the author of the article should have said so.
Thanks for taking the time to correct your post!
Maria
Well said and well done! Thanks for doing the basic research and follow-up the Salon “journalist” wouldn’t!
Thanks for following up on this and giving us the facts. That is what is so neat about this website — we get the facts.
I don’t think you were getting people riled up for no reason-as someone who cares, you saw this and reacted as you should have...that is why I come to FR. I come here because I cannot be an authority on everything, there is just too much to be exposed to.
I know enough about history, aviation, chemistry, the military culture, nuclear issues and medicine, so I can offer my opinions on them and back them up with a basis for my stand.
I don’t know much about law, running a business, finance, construction, marketing, publishing, television and so on.
I depend on Freepers to provide me with enough knowledge to serve as a platform for exploring issues. It is why I spend 90% of my time online at Free Republic.
Because people like you provide ME with reliable information on stuff I know little about. I am happy to provide it when I can.
So, thank YOU...:)