The following excerpt is from an AP article in the March 8, 2012 edition of The Miami Herald:
WASHINGTON — After reporting that it had found 102 more misplaced headstones or markers and 21 graves missing markers at its cemeteries, the Veterans Affairs Department told lawmakers Thursday that it’s trying to prevent future errors by requiring contractors to keep headstones at gravesites undergoing renovations and by conducting daily inspections.
The department has been auditing its cemeteries around the country and so far has found 249 problems at 13 cemeteries.
A Veterans Affairs official pointed out that the department undertook the audit on its own and that the problems represent a fraction of the nearly 1.5 million gravesites reviewed so far. Still, officials said they recognized the grief and emotional hardship the errors cause.
