VA agrees with Case request to change ‘unknowns’ grave inscriptions at Punchbowl
 
Honolulu, Hawaii — Congressman Ed Case (2^nd District, Hawaii) says the Veterans Administration has responded positively to his request to change a gravemarking policy that will fulfill the wishes of a Pearl Harbor survivor and honor 36 “unknown” sailors who died during a wartime accident at the harbor’s West Loch in 1944.

“The VA’s decision will finally help Ray Emory to complete a long campaign to honor the memory of his fellow Pearl Harbor sailors who rest beneath ‘unknown’ markers at the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. And the decision to cut through the red tape that has prevented this from happening, until now, will allow our nation to honor these ‘unknown’ sailors with more appropriate inscriptions on their gravemarkers,” said Case.

For many years, Pearl Harbor survivor Ray Emory has been trying to convince the Veterans Administration’s National Cemetery Administration to change the inscriptions on 36 graves of sailors buried at the National Cemetery of the Pacific which are marked today only with the word “Unknown.”

Emory has documented proof that the 36 sailors died in a series of explosions and fires while unloading munitions at West Loch, Pearl Harbor on May 21, 1944. Emory, a historian who resides in Kahala, Hawaii, has wanted the VA to add information on the gravemarkers noting the location and date of the sailors’ deaths but the VA has refused, citing a policy that allows replacement markers only if an identification is made, a mistake was made in the inscription, or damage or weathering requires a replacement.

In an August 3, 2006 letter to Case, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, R. James Nicholson informed Case that the National Cemetery of the Pacific’s “cemetery director will order new markers to replace the existing stones marking the graves of these 36 unknown sailors.” Nicholson said the replacement markers will read:

“Unknown

West Loch Disaster

Pearl Harbor

May 21, 1944”

Nicholson’s letter responds to Case’s June 29, 2006 letters to Nicholson and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking the two agencies to permit the inscription changes.

“There was good cause to make this change, and we can all be glad that the red tape our government creates for itself can be cut, especially when we need to do it for the sake of compassion, respect, and in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.”

Case said an inter-department disagreement between the Defense Department, which has wanted to allow the changes, and Department of Veterans Affairs, which opposed the changes. Case, in his letters to the departments, said a precedent existed to make the changes. Congresswoman Patsy Mink had authored legislation in 2001, which was enacted into law, to add the date and ship name on the gravemarkers of unknown sailors buried at Punchbowl who died aboard the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941.

Then, in separate action in 2002, changes were made to other Punchbowl gravemarkers at the request of then-Army Chief of Staff, General Eric Shinseki, who asked the VA to replace 177 gravemarkers for unknowns at Punchbowl to include other ship names.

“The addition of more information on the gravemarkers also helps Punchbowl’s visitors, the families of unknowns, and future generations to understand as best as possible how these sailors served all of us,” said Case.