Posted on 08/08/2003 6:22:17 AM PDT by sjersey
Patrick Cubbage, the honor guardsman fired last year from a New Jersey military cemetery for saying "God bless you" to veterans' families at graveside services, has been reinstated with back pay.
"I'm glad it's over - well, I hope it's over," Cubbage, a 54-year-old former Philadelphia police officer, said yesterday. He returns to work Monday.
But the principle at stake - just when an honor guard is permitted to say a blessing - remains uncertain.
Cubbage's supervisors at Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, N.J., fired him in October because he regularly finished flag presentations with the words, "God bless you and this family, and God bless the United States of America."
An evangelical Christian, Cubbage said he offered the blessing to families of any faith, but only when the burial was being conducted by clergy.
His dismissal generated national attention when it was reported in February.
Cubbage, who lives in Northeast Philadelphia, said yesterday that under the terms of his return agreement, reached last week with the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs, honor guards can say "God bless you" whenever the family of the deceased wishes it.
But a spokeswoman for the department, which operates Doyle Cemetery, said she thought the blessing might be allowed only at Air Force interment ceremonies.
The Rutherford Institute - a nonprofit civil-liberties organization based in Charlottesville, Va. - took up Cubbage's case and negotiated the terms of his return to the cemetery. He will receive 10 months' back pay.
The cemetery's interment officer "must now ask the families [of the deceased] if they want the religious service," John Whitehead, Rutherford's president, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Whitehead called the July 29 settlement "precedent-setting."
"Before they could do it," Whitehead said. "Now, they have to do it."
Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokeswoman for the department, said she did not believe Cubbage's return agreement was nearly so sweeping.
She said that while she had not seen the agreement, she understood that it said that any honor guard "must follow the standards set forth by each of the military departments. The Department of the Army has its protocol, as does the Department of the Air Force, the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the Marines. Each of those comes with a standard phrase."
At issue is whether all five branches of service allow a blessing at the close of their flag presentations.
Cubbage said that, according to the literature the cemetery gave him when he was hired, the presenting guard steps before the appropriate family member at the close of the graveyard service and presents the flag with precise language.
In the case of an Army veteran, it is: "This flag is presented on behalf of a grateful nation and the United States Army as a token of appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service."
The other four services use similar language, listed in the training literature, which concludes: "If the next of kin has expressed a religious preference or belief, add: 'God bless you and this family, and God bless the United States of America.' "
Cubbage said he believed the blessing option was available for all five branches of service. Niedt said, however, that she understood it was used only by the Air Force.
A supervisor at Doyle Cemetery could not be reached for comment late yesterday.
However, Tammy Clowers of the 70,000-member Retired Enlisted Association in Aurora, Colo., said she believed the blessing was for all the branches.
"I've been to a gazillion military funerals, and I've never heard anyone not use it," said Glowers, who edits the organization's magazine. "I would wager that 99.9 percent of the families are going to want it."
That is Cubbage's expectation as well, but he said he would know better when he reports for duty at Doyle Cemetery.
"They'll give me all the particulars when I get there," he said.
Whitehead said he would be watching with interest to see what Cubbage was permitted to do.
"It's clear what they have to do," he said. "If they don't, they can get sued again."
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Thank God for small justice.
That was my question.
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