thedrifter
03-25-05, 07:52 AM
Sent to me by Mark (Fontman)
Graveside flags taken down at Riverside veterans cemetery
The Associated Press
Last Updated: March 24, 2005, 02:25:16 PM PST
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - Veterans who volunteer at Riverside National Cemetery have written a letter to President Bush and other politicians decrying a policy that requires maintenance workers to pull up and burn flags planted by graves.
For the past four months, flags have been removed by maintenance workers who burn them under order of the cemetery's new director, the veterans said.
"This is a veterans cemetery," said Bob Markham, 73, of Redlands, a volunteer who spent 22 years in the Air Force. "If you can't put a flag on a veteran's grave here, where can you? These young kids were killed defending our country. They deserve a flag on their headstone."
Director Mark Maynard, who took over in November, said he is enforcing Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines that prohibit flags at individual gravesites except around Memorial Day.
Flags left by gravesites get torn and dirty - a sign of disrespect, he said. The cemetery burns the flags under VA protocol, he added.
Representatives of national cemeteries in San Diego and Los Angeles also don't allow individual gravesite flags except around Memorial Day.
"This place is all about respect and honor," said Maynard, who spent 6 1/2 years in the Marines. "There is a reason for the policy. I just wish they would understand that."
Veterans said the previous director allowed them to put flags out at any time of the year with prior approval. The flags stayed out for one week and then were collected by maintenance workers.
Paul Adkins, chairman of the cemetery's volunteer support committee, sent Bush the letter signed by more than 20 veterans. It also went to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. and a number of Republican state Assembly members.
Markham said he buys 144 flags at a time for 80 cents apiece.
He always leaves a flag on the grave of his wife, who died in 2002, and never forgets the graves the three Medal of Honor recipients or the 22 soldiers killed in Iraq who are buried at the cemetery.
"They keep taking them down, and I'll keep putting them right back up," Markham said.
Ellie
:no:
Graveside flags taken down at Riverside veterans cemetery
The Associated Press
Last Updated: March 24, 2005, 02:25:16 PM PST
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - Veterans who volunteer at Riverside National Cemetery have written a letter to President Bush and other politicians decrying a policy that requires maintenance workers to pull up and burn flags planted by graves.
For the past four months, flags have been removed by maintenance workers who burn them under order of the cemetery's new director, the veterans said.
"This is a veterans cemetery," said Bob Markham, 73, of Redlands, a volunteer who spent 22 years in the Air Force. "If you can't put a flag on a veteran's grave here, where can you? These young kids were killed defending our country. They deserve a flag on their headstone."
Director Mark Maynard, who took over in November, said he is enforcing Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines that prohibit flags at individual gravesites except around Memorial Day.
Flags left by gravesites get torn and dirty - a sign of disrespect, he said. The cemetery burns the flags under VA protocol, he added.
Representatives of national cemeteries in San Diego and Los Angeles also don't allow individual gravesite flags except around Memorial Day.
"This place is all about respect and honor," said Maynard, who spent 6 1/2 years in the Marines. "There is a reason for the policy. I just wish they would understand that."
Veterans said the previous director allowed them to put flags out at any time of the year with prior approval. The flags stayed out for one week and then were collected by maintenance workers.
Paul Adkins, chairman of the cemetery's volunteer support committee, sent Bush the letter signed by more than 20 veterans. It also went to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. and a number of Republican state Assembly members.
Markham said he buys 144 flags at a time for 80 cents apiece.
He always leaves a flag on the grave of his wife, who died in 2002, and never forgets the graves the three Medal of Honor recipients or the 22 soldiers killed in Iraq who are buried at the cemetery.
"They keep taking them down, and I'll keep putting them right back up," Markham said.
Ellie
:no: