VFW APPLAUDS ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY IMPROVEMENTS
'The Army said they were going to fix Arlington and they have'
June 07, 2012
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. was critical of the Army when in 2010
it was confirmed that America’s most revered national cemetery was failing to
do its job. At its 111th national convention in Indianapolis that year, the VFW
even passed a national resolution to support transferring Arlington National
Cemetery away from the Army and into the Department of Veterans Affairs, which
operates 131 national cemeteries across the country.
Not
anymore.
“The
Army said they were going to fix Arlington and they have,” said Richard L.
DeNoyer, the national commander of the 2 million-member VFW and its
Auxiliaries. “Army Secretary John McHugh and Army National Cemeteries Program Executive Director Kathryn Condon and
staff are to be applauded for not only returning Arlington to the hallowed
status all of America expects, but for helping to restore the trust and
stewardship that those interred and their families deserve.”
In the wake of a June 2010 Army Inspector General report
that validated mismanagement and misplaced graves, the Army fired senior
cemetery management and embraced technology to replace an antiquated 3 x 5-inch
card recordkeeping system that Condon said was one fire away from total
destruction. Each of the almost 260,000 grave markers have since been digitally
photographed, and a new GPS-linked smartphone app due out this fall will help
online visitors tour the cemetery from home. The Army also created a geospatial
mapping system that allows cemetery staff to synchronize in real-time all their
daily operations, to include burials, public ceremonies, and infrastructure
upkeep and repair — a first for any national
cemetery.
“The media, Congress, and veteran and military service
organizations have held Army leadership under intense scrutiny over the past
two years,” said DeNoyer, a retired Marine and Vietnam combat veteran from
Middleton, Mass. “And while Arlington may still have more challenges to
overcome, the Army is getting this right, which the VFW hopes will go far in
restoring the public’s full faith in Army’s ability to perform this most sacred
mission. Well done.”
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