Oakwood Cemetery board members clarified a tombstone law Thursday in response to a letter to the Times-Union editor during their last meeting of the year. A widow was distressed by the removal of a bronze medallion marking her husband's grave when a tombstone was purchased with his name engraved on it. "The bronze marker is provided free by the federal government so no veteran's grave goes unmarked," Oakwood Cemetery Sexton David Shaw said. Shaw indicated Mrs.Norma McGuire had visited the office recently and he explained the plaque requirements to her.He went on to explain that when the grave is marked the bronze plaque is returned, per federal stipulation, to the government. Identical bronze markers can be purchased through a monument company and placed at the gravesite or affixed to the tombstone.Or the federal plaque can be placed on a tombstone as long as the vet's name does not appear there.
TERESA SMITH, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016
