August 01, 2010
Thank You, Senator Lieberman
Today would have been my father's 92nd birthday. But he actually passed away in July of last year after a long illness and was buried in the State Veterans' Cemetery in Middletown, Connecticut.
One thing that Uncle Sam does for his veterans is provide a gravestone. In our case, we had a long struggle with the Veterans Administration over the inscription, despite all the documentation we provided over Dad's final rank and his service.
On top of that, the cemetery wasn't in any hurry to put any stone at all. When I was last there in early May, all that marked my father's grave was a small temporary plastic plaque which had been broken. When my mother visited on Memorial Day, though, a real stone was finally in place---but it had the wrong inscription.
By now, we had somewhat reluctantly contacted Senator Joe Lieberman's office for help. To our relief, after getting a brush-off from practically everyone else, they actually assisted us, and to our surprise the senator actually took a personal interest in the matter. He even called my brother (who really did all the heavy lifting in this saga) one evening and spoke with him for an hour. Lieberman also apparently called Governor Rell and got her riled up about the management of the cemetery.
The upshot of all this is that we have been informed that as of June 25, just eleven months after the funeral, the corrected stone bearing my father's actual rank and noting his service in World War Two was finally placed at the grave.
And for all that, I have to say to Senator Joe Lieberman: We do not agree about everything but you are okay in my book, sir.
Posted by mayor mcsleaze at August 1, 2010 01:26 PM
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