To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish headstones, markers, and medallions for graves of certain enslaved individuals and individuals who performed military functions despite ineligibility to serve in the Armed Forces.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · November 27, 2023
Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
The Headstones for Honor Act directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide government-furnished headstones, markers, and medallions for the graves of enslaved individuals and others who performed military functions despite being legally prohibited from serving in the Armed Forces. This includes enslaved people who accompanied Civil War soldiers and those denied military service based on race, gender, sex, or ethnicity. The bill requires that headstones for enslaved individuals who served in Confederate forces include language noting they were forced to support their own enslavement. Requests for these memorials can be made by direct descendants or individuals with a descendant's reasonable consent. The Veterans Affairs Secretary must develop regulations within one year of the bill's enactment, consulting with Civil War historians, civil rights organizations, and descendants, and establish standards for what evidence can prove someone performed military functions or their family relationship to an applicant.
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