Several years ago I tried to get a bronze plaque for my Grandfather's grave from the Veteran's Administration showing his service in the Navy during World War I. In short, I was refused because I told the truth about him already having a private stone which only shows his name and years of birth and death. Now, I know that their policy was only to give out stones to veterans who would go unmarked and I support that, but if you stand at his grave and look in any direction you can see tens if not hundreds of bronze plaques mounted on, near or close to their private headstones. My question was at the time, how did they do this and why can't I. I am sure that not all of the veterans here and millions more across the country did not have a private stone when they ordered their veterans stone or plaque. In fact, some of them had to be there because they are even glued to the back of private stones. Now, how do you do this? Well, you lie and you say that you don't have a stone or easier yet you get the undertaker to lie for you, (they do that you know), because at the time you are probably grieving and he is handling it all for a fee including the payment from the County Auditor to set the government stone or plaque. Or if you want to be really good, you order the government stone first and then you don't have to lie when it asks you if you already have a private stone and then of course the private stone gets there first because it takes forever to get one from the government. Anyway, my point is that it is done everywhere, all across this nation. Just count the number of bronze plaques alongside private stones that are placed in your city cemetery next Memorial Day. All illegally provided at taxpayer's expense. They have a wonderful business going on somewhere, from the monument company contracted with the government to the undertakers, all the way down to the County Auditor who passes out the money for setting the stone. And don't get me wrong, I think that any veteran is entitled to one, if not two, but after many years of letter writing back and forth to the Veteran's Administration about this, which also included a letter to Sen. Dick Lugar, who by the way was a close and personal friend of my grandfather's, I finally got an answer from the Veteran's Administration on how to obtain a government plaque, which for all practical purposes says, YOU LIE!! At one point, I even corresponded with a TV news magazine about the problem, wanting to bust the whole thing open, but there is no one that is going to take on the veterans of this country and I don't blame them. But, in the meantime, because I am honest my grandfather's grave does not have a bronze plaque. O.K., I was satisfied with that until now. Effective January 1, 2002 for all new burials of veterans with a private stone, a government stone or plaque will also be provided. Yea! See the Veterans Administration website. I can only think that I had something to do with that. Yeah, right. But, what about the veterans that died prior to this that did not get a government stone? Are they entitled to less? What they did was cover their own tracks because they knew for years that what was going on was illegal, but they hated to lose that stone business so they made it legal. And, of course, at taxpayer's expense. Well, unless I have my grandfather reinterred somewhere, steal his stone or become really dishonest and lie to the Veteran's Administration my grandfather will not have a bronze plaque like everyone else to denote his military service. I just thought it would kind of be nice. Bureaucracy at its finest! Jon Andrews _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

Jon, Most of the bronze markers in this area are ordered BEFORE the private marker is in place. You must have something to mount the bronze marker to, so they order the granite (or other) stone to mount it to, then have the other side engraved. The rules read: "Arrangements for setting a Government-furnished headstone or marker in a private cemetery are the applicant's responsibility and all placement costs are at private expense." Since the placement cost is at private expense, what you have on the OTHER side if the stone you purchased to mount it to is up to you. You may wish to try to order it again. You can find the information here: http://www.cem.va.gov/hm.htm Ernie At 07:32 PM 03/24/2002 -0500, you wrote: >Several years ago I tried to get a bronze plaque for my Grandfather's >grave from the Veteran's Administration showing his service in the Navy >during World War I. In short, I was refused because I told the truth about >him already having a private stone which only shows his name and years of >birth and death. Now, I know that their policy was only to give out stones >to veterans who would go unmarked and I support that, but if you stand at >his grave and look in any direction you can see tens if not hundreds of >bronze plaques mounted on, near or close to their private headstones. My >question was at the time, how did they do this and why can't I. I am sure >that not all of the veterans here and millions more across the country did >not have a private stone when they ordered their veterans stone or plaque. >In fact, some of them had to be there because they are even glued to the >back of private stones. >Now, how do you do this? Well, you lie and you say that you don't have a >stone or easier yet you get the undertaker to lie for you, (they do that >you know), because at the time you are probably grieving and he is >handling it all for a fee including the payment from the County Auditor to >set the government stone or plaque. Or if you want to be really good, you >order the government stone first and then you don't have to lie when it >asks you if you already have a private stone and then of course the >private stone gets there first because it takes forever to get one from >the government. >Anyway, my point is that it is done everywhere, all across this nation. >Just count the number of bronze plaques alongside private stones that are >placed in your city cemetery next Memorial Day. All illegally provided at >taxpayer's expense. They have a wonderful business going on somewhere, >from the monument company contracted with the government to the >undertakers, all the way down to the County Auditor who passes out the >money for setting the stone. And don't get me wrong, I think that any >veteran is entitled to one, if not two, but after many years of letter >writing back and forth to the Veteran's Administration about this, which >also included a letter to Sen. Dick Lugar, who by the way was a close and >personal friend of my grandfather's, I finally got an answer from the >Veteran's Administration on how to obtain a government plaque, which for >all practical purposes says, YOU LIE!! At one point, I even corresponded >with a TV news magazine about the problem, wanting to bust the whole thing >open, but there is no one that is going to take on the veterans of this >country and I don't blame them. >But, in the meantime, because I am honest my grandfather's grave does not >have a bronze plaque. O.K., I was satisfied with that until now. >Effective January 1, 2002 for all new burials of veterans with a private >stone, a government stone or plaque will also be provided. Yea! See the >Veterans Administration website. I can only think that I had something to >do with that. Yeah, right. But, what about the veterans that died prior to >this that did not get a government stone? Are they entitled to less? What >they did was cover their own tracks because they knew for years that what >was going on was illegal, but they hated to lose that stone business so >they made it legal. And, of course, at taxpayer's expense. >Well, unless I have my grandfather reinterred somewhere, steal his stone >or become really dishonest and lie to the Veteran's Administration my >grandfather will not have a bronze plaque like everyone else to denote his >military service. I just thought it would kind of be nice. Bureaucracy at >its finest! >Jon Andrews > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. > > >==== INPCRP Mailing List ==== >To UNSUBSCRIBE, send message consisting only of >"UNSUBSCRIBE" to INPCRP-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com > or to INPCRP-D-REQUEST@rootsweb.com (for DIGEST version) >