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Testimony
of VIETNAM
VETERANS OF AMERICA Presented
by Patrick
Eddington, Associate
Director Vietnam
Veterans of America Before
the House
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Regarding
H.R.
3423 To amend the United States Code, to enact into law eligibility of certain veterans for burial at Arlington National
Cemetery December
13, 2001 Chairman
Smith, Ranking Member Evans,
and other distinguished members of the Committee,
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is pleased to have this opportunity
to provide our comments for the record on our concerns regarding H.R.
3423, which would amend Title 38 of the U.S. Code to allow the burial
of a current or former member of the reserve component of the Armed
Forces of the United States, as well as their
dependents, to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, even if said
reservist did not meet the current age and time in service eligibility
requirements of existing law. This
bill is a response to the tragedy that affected the family of Captain
Charles Burlingame (the pilot of Flight 77 which crashed into
the Pentagon on September 11, 2001) from receiving full burial rights
at Arlington. We concur fully with your view that reservists like
Captain Burlingame who die as a result of enemy action should be
accorded burial at Arlington, if that is their or the choice of their
survivors. We would respectfully suggest, however, that Captain
Burlingame’s case helps illustrate a point VVA has made to this
Committee on prior occasions: Arlington Cemetery can and must
be expanded. As
we have testified previously before this Committee, the lack of burial
space for our veterans—at Arlington and across the country—is yet
another example of the distortions in resources within the VA system,
brought on by years of underfunded budgets. At present, we are deeply
skeptical that VA’s existing and planned cemeteries will be able to
handle the number of World War II and Korean War veterans who will
leave us over the next decade. Simply put, acquiring burial space
requires: a) an available property, and b) the funds to purchase the
property, as well as build and maintain the cemetery. We have some
concrete suggestions on this topic that we would like to share with
you. VVA
is perplexed at why the Navy Department continues to use the aging,
deteriorating buildings at the Navy Annex adjacent to Arlington when
more modern office space is available in the Washington metro area. If
the Navy Department were to vacate the Navy Annex and cede the land to
Arlington, thousands of additional burial plots would become
available. We believe that this Committee and its Armed Services
counterpart should hold hearings into the feasibility of this proposal
early in 2002. Secondly,
VVA believes that it would also be possible to create a new national
cemetery in the city of Washington. We are aware that there are unused
tracks of land in need of redevelopment within the District,
specifically in the areas near the Takoma or Rhode Island Avenue Metro
stations. Turning these unused or underutilized spaces into one or
more appropriately landscaped and maintained national cemeteries would
create new national shrines to provide final homes for our honored
dead, as well as ease the overcrowding in Arlington Cemetery that is
worsening on a daily basis. Outside
of the national capitol region, we would respectfully suggest that
sites identified as excess by the Base Realignment and Closure
Commission be evaluated for their suitability for conversion to
national cemeteries. We understand that Congress often prefers to see
such excess property sold to private developers as a way of enhancing
revenues. However, given the expected increase in veteran burials over
the next 15 years, we believe each facility slated for closure under
BRAC should be carefully evaluated for its suitability for conversion
to a national cemetery. Vietnam
Veterans of America sincerely appreciates the opportunity to present
our views on these extremely important issues, and we look forward to
working with you, Mr. Chairman, and your distinguished colleagues on
this Committee to address and resolve these and other important
matters of concern to our nation’s veterans. VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA
Funding Statement December 13, 2001 Vietnam
Veterans of America (VVA) is a national non-profit veterans membership
organization registered as a 501(c)(19) with the Internal Revenue
Service. VVA is also
appropriately registered with the Secretary of the Senate and the
Clerk of the House of Representatives in compliance with the Lobbying
Disclosure Act of 1995. VVA
is not currently in receipt of any federal grant or contract, other
than the routine allocation of office space and associated resources
in VA Regional Offices for outreach and direct services through its
Veterans Benefits Program (Service Representatives).
This is also true of the previous two fiscal years. For Further Information, Contact: Director of Government Relations Vietnam Veterans of America (301) 585-4000, extension 127 Back to Witness List |