Measure seeks changes for unmarked veterans’ graves

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

A U.S. Senate bill that would make it easier to get headstones for historic unmarked veterans’ graves has drawn support from historians in Ohio.

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Jon Tester, D-Montana, recently introduced a bipartisan bill to enable veterans’ service agencies, military researchers, historians or genealogists to request free headstones or markers from the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans’ graves. The VA previously provided headstones for unmarked graves based on documentation of a veteran’s identity and service provided by those groups or individuals. But a 2012 policy change limited requests to veterans’ next-of-kin or authorized family representatives.

Historians and veterans groups say the change makes it more difficult to get markers for graves sometimes dating back more than a century, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reported.

The Portman-Tester bill matches a similar measure introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last year by Rep. Steve Stivers, an Ohio Republican.