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A2 u.s. news
Thursday 26 sepTember 2019

New burial rules seek to extend Arlington Cemetery lifespan

By MATTHEW BARAKAT eral rulemaking process mandeered the estate of
Associated Press and published in the Fed- Confederate Gen. Robert
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — eral Register, which allows E. Lee overlooking the Po-
In an effort to save dwin- the public to submit com- tomac River and the na-
dling space, the Army is ments. If the public com- tion’s capital to bury the
proposing new rules to limit ments prompt no revisions, war dead.
who can be buried at Ar- the new rules could take ef- More than 400,000 people
lington National Cemetery. fect in about nine months. are buried in the ceme-
Under the current rules, the The cemetery, which is tery, and only 95,000 burial
cemetery would run out of managed by the Army, spaces remain, though
space by the mid-2050s, the has already conducted ex- a planned expansion will
Army says. The proposed tensive public outreach to add 37 acres (15 hectares)
restrictions would preserve In this Thursday, March 28, 2019, file photo, a military bugler collect feedback on how it of burial space and more
the cemetery’s lifespan for plays taps during a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in should shepherd its existing than 10 years of life to the
another 150 years. Arlington, Va. space. More than 250,000 cemetery under the exist-
“Arlington National Cem- Associated Press people responded to a sur- ing rules.
etery is a national shrine Under the proposals, veter- Those who were killed in vey by the cemetery, and Even with the expansion,
for all Americans, but es- ans who retired from active action or received awards officials say roughly three- though, the cemetery fac-
pecially those who have duty and were eligible for such as the Purple Heart or quarters of respondents es a severe capacity prob-
served our great nation,” retirement pay would no Silver Star could still receive favored restricting eligibil- lem in coming decades.
Acting Secretary of the longer be automatically an in-ground burial. U.S. ity for burial in some way Under the current rules,
Army Ryan McCarthy said eligible for in-ground buri- presidents and vice presi- to preserve the cemetery’s nearly all of the 22 million
in a statement. “We must al. They would be eligible, dents also would retain eli- lifespan. living armed forces mem-
ensure it can honor those though, for above-ground gibility. The cemetery’s found- bers and veterans are eli-
we have lost for many years “inurnment” of cremated The proposed rules will now ing dates to the Civil War, gible for burial at Arlington,
to come.” remains. be subjected to the fed- when Union soldiers com- the Army said.q