Graves at Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery damaged by heavy equipment
MyFOX DC
By Sherri Ly
Posted: Dec 31, 2013
CHELTENHAM, Md.
"It wasn't on purpose or intentional,” said Keith Lincoln. “It wasn't like somebody broke through the building and did all this on purpose. It was just an accident." He says his father's headstone has been damaged before and the cemetery quickly replaced it.
A bulldozer mistakenly damaged dozens of graves at a Maryland veterans cemetery. Now the state's Secretary of Veterans Affairs is apologizing.
Pictures of the damage to Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery went viral over social media. The damage was accidental, but angered many families who had loved ones buried there.
"It's just disgraceful," said Carol Milliken.
Her husband, a major in the U.S. Air Force, was buried there last year. She comes to visit almost every day. Looking at the rows of unearthed headstones and muddy tire tracks inches from her husband's grave almost brought her to tears. Like all those here, he served the nation honorably, only to be dishonored like this.
"It's very sad. I was very upset," she said showing the tire tracks left by the bulldozer backhoe.
"They've gone up the side here, you can see the tracks. His stone is right here."
During the last burial Monday, a tractor sunk into the saturated ground, leaving deep trenches across part of the cemetery, buckling the ground and dislodging headstones.
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Friday, January 3, 2014
Accident at VA Cemetery Causes Outrage?
I read this article several times and tried to put myself into the families shoes. Oh, wait. I am already in them. My Dad and uncles are buried in civilian cemeteries but friends are buried in VA graves. I would be upset if it happened to their graves but I would not blame the workers for getting stuck in saturated mud they had to get out of.
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