Committee Will Investigate VA Cemetery Mistakes

Published January 26, 2012 10:45PM (EST)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are calling on the Veterans Affairs Department to audit all of its cemeteries to ensure the remains of veterans and family members were correctly interred and marked.

The VA disclosed recently that a review of 83 cemeteries revealed problems with 123 gravesites, including eight cases in which people were buried in the wrong place.

The VA focused on just those cemeteries that underwent certain renovations. It reviewed nearly 1.3 million headstones and found a fraction of the headstones had been moved one spot away from where they should have been.

Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said Thursday that he now has questions about some 2 million gravesites not reviewed and he expects a full accounting of every gravesite under the department's control.


By Salon Staff

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