Photo of veteran's tombstone in Arlington Cemetery creek startles son

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Washington Post

By Christian Davenport

It was around lunchtime Thursday when Mike McLaughlin settled into a chair in his family room and opened the newspaper. There, on the front page, was a photograph of a burial marker lying in a stream at Arlington National Cemetery and an article that led to a sudden realization.

"This is my father's tombstone," he called out to his wife.

Then he became, as he said, "unglued." How could his father -- who dropped out of college to serve in World War I, rejoined the Navy the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor at the age of 44 and then served again during the Korean War -- be so dishonored?

Upset, he called the cemetery, which had been trying to figure out whom the headstone belonged to after The Washington Post alerted cemetery officials Wednesday morning that several mud-caked headstones were lining a stream at one of the country's most venerated burial grounds.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/17/AR2010061705838.html

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From another story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/06/17/DI2010061702979.html

[MadMaddie]

1. This is a travesty!

[OhioChick]

2. Terrible. n/t

[elocs]

3. If Obama is looking to kick ass, then the VA and how our vets are treated is a place for it.

He has said he has a major concern for veteran's affairs, well this is certainly the place to kick ass and take names. If through actions and things actually changed and accomplished, Obama could become a Democrat that all veterans would overwhelmingly support, hands down. Vets seem to get lots of promises from everyone and then get let down, so much so it is a wonder at times why anyone does volunteer to serve.

[lonestarnot]

6. Arlington isn't prepetually cared for by VA, Army has that honor.

[elocs]

7. Anything, no matter who is responsible, that is a problem for vets needs to be addressed. n/t

[jody]

4. So far there's no incidents at my site, Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola Naval Air Station, FL

[Historic NY]

5. Its a common thing for the old one to be recycled....practice dates back to 18th century.

We have found Veterans stones and other used in paving and other locations It was only after extensive checking this was found to be the case. I personally have found a few VA stones that were just stacked and never set at the graves. Blame the staffs and the workers some just don't care.

[Brother Buzz]

16. The names are ALWAYS struck from discarded headstones at the San Francisco National Cemetery

Many were used in making the breakwater along Chrissy field and can still be seen today, others were tossed into my favorite US government dump over in the Marin headlands, near Point Bonita. Never, ever, would you find a name inscribed on a discarded headstones.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Duppers]

9. GO away

peddle your crap elsewhere.

[Lasher]

10. Captain McLaughlin's grave has not been defiled.

The creek is next to the maintenance yard. A cemetery spokesperson said since 1994, discarded gravestones that have been damaged or misprinted are to be broken up and recycled off site, however, these markers date back to the 1980's.

"It appears to be preventing erosion on the bank bed, but it's too early to tell," said Cemetery Spokesperson Kaitlin Horst.

It's also too early to tell if the headstones belong on cemetery grave sites or were somehow damaged and never used at all. The new management team from the VA acknowledges that will take time. Managers will meet with the Army Corp of Engineers on Friday to determine if removing the stones would cause any environmental damage. But considering the continuing controversy is posing its own threat to the cemetery's reputation, officials vow to correct the problem as quickly as they can.

As of this posting, cemetery officials contacted the family of a Navy Captain identified on one of the headstones. They have determined his records are in order and a proper headstone is marking his grave site.

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=102671&catid=158

[Robb]

11. Good to hear. Thanks for the update. nt

[Javaman]

13. perhaps they should have put them face down? nt

[Javaman]

12. This is disgraceful.

I wanted to get the whole story before I reacted.

This is inexcusable.

[mike_c]

14. entropy marches on....

Nothing stays where you put it forever. Presumably, since it was noticed, someone will put them back now. Eventually, they'll all be at the bottom of the ocean, though. Eventually.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. This is the correct answer. -nt

[TEXASYANKEE]

15. I don't like the way this story was presented.

Another case of the media broadcasting something without first checking all the facts. If the stones were being recycled (with new ones put in their place), then this is not an earth-shattering story. They may have been handling inproperly, yes, but it's not as though someone was ripping headstones off graves and throwing them in the creek. The media made a mountain out of something very minor, and only because they put the story out without first fact-checking it. Shameful and unnecessary.

[Xenotime]

22. Exactly.

[ehrnst]

17. Don't know if this is related -

But I live in South Arlington Va, and when I went househunting in 2001, I saw homes with front steps that were made out of tombstones from Arlington Cemetery. At the time, I assumed that they were discarded because of misspellings or wrong dates.

Now I have to wonder.

[xxqqqzme]

19. This is from June 18, 2010

I remember reading this story then - Should this be in LBN?

[saigon68]

21. Its not archived yet

And yes these are busted discarded stones. They should have turned them into gravel before throwing them away

[superconnected]

20. Just like they treat the live vets - forget 'em.