VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site





Be sure to get all five
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
VSO Press
Releases

Download your
free copy of the
2007 VA benefits
handbook here...

Printer-Friendly Version

CLOSING A GAP FOR VETERANS -- Advocate succeeds in

push for federal headstone legislation.

WEST HARTFORD RESIDENT Tom Guzzo, left, son of a WWII veteran, talks recently to former state Sen. Biagio Ciotto in November at the Veterans Memorial in West Hartford Center. (photo: MARC-YVES REGIS)

For more information about burial and memorial benefits, click here... http://www.cem.va.gov/

Story here... http://www.courant.com/new
s/nationworld/hc-headstone.artdec25,0,7886577.story

Story below:

-------------------------

Closing A Gap For Veterans

Advocate Succeeds In Push For Headstone Legislation

By WILLIAM WEIR
Courant Staff Writer

For nine years, West Hartford resident Tom Guzzo has been fighting for a federal bill that would improve the burial benefits of veterans. When he got the call last week that it finally passed, it couldn't have come at a better time.

"This was my Christmas gift," he said. "I'm going to remember this Christmas as very special."

The bill makes permanent a policy in which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will provide headstones for veterans. And for families of veterans who have privately purchased headstones, the new bill will also provide service markers to be attached to those headstones. The bill passed the U.S. Senate last month and passed the House last week.

Guzzo, 47, has been pushing the issue since 1998, when his father, World War II veteran Agostino Guzzo, died at age 70. The elder Guzzo spent 14 months in the Philippines, rebuilding roads until his honorable discharge in 1947.

The Guzzos had already purchased a civilian headstone for Agostino, but a federal law enacted in 1990 disqualified them from receiving a government-funded veterans marker. Prior to 1990, the government had provided veterans headstones for all veterans.

The Guzzo family was eventually granted a special exception and given a marker, but Guzzo pressed for legislation that would cover all veterans.

He chased down the media and stopped officials at public events to talk up the cause. He networked with other veterans' families. Eventually, a law was enacted in late 2001 providing government-funded headstones or markers for all veterans who died after Sept. 11, 2001. But because of concerns about how much the bill would cost, the law came with an expiration date of Dec. 31, 2006. A one-year extension was passed last year. The bill also didn't cover those veterans who had died between 1990 and 2001.

In 2005, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs furnished 368,900 headstones and markers. According to the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, there are more than 300,000 veterans in the state, and about 9,000 die each year. Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda S. Schwartz said Connecticut has regularly provided veterans' families with headstones, but was glad to see the legislation pass.

"I think all of ours are taken care of with the headstones, but I think it's important that the veterans have that last measure of respect for their service," she said. "I congratulate [Guzzo] on his work."

In the nine years that he has campaigned for the bill, Guzzo worked with U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd and U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District. In a press release, Larson said "honoring our nation's veterans is particularly important when we are at war." He also gave credit to Guzzo, stating that "his persistence on behalf of the issue made this happen."

The bill that passed last week lifts the expiration date and provides markers for those veterans who died between 1990 and 2001. For deceased veterans whose families have already purchased headstones, the state department of veterans affairs will provide a medallion or bronze plate to be attached to the existing headstone.

Guzzo, who works at Webster Bank in West Hartford, said his work on the bill was a matter of following in his father's footsteps.

"He was someone who helped everybody," he said. "Anytime you were in a jam, he would help you out."

The work now, he said, is to make sure veterans' families know about the law. "These next couple of years, I'm going to continue to promote and make sure that people are aware that markers are available," he said.

Contact William Weir at bweir@courant.com.

-------------------------

Larry Scott  --

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

email Larry

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site