Va. lawmakers debate how to honor fallen veterans

RICHMOND

There's little disagreement that those who lose their lives in war should be honored for their sacrifice. But how do you determine exactly who qualifies for that honor?

Apparently, it's not so easy.

A yearlong debate over how to memorialize Virginia's fallen veterans has produced two competing measures in the 2010 General Assembly.

One calls for inscribing the names of all those who died in combat zones on the Virginia War Memorial, a glass- and-marble structure erected after World War II on a Richmond hillside overlooking the James River.

The other measure would create a two-tier system at the memorial, separating those killed in hostile action from those who died in other ways.

The first approach has the support of the state Veterans of Foreign Wars and the family of a 25-year-old Marine who died in a helicopter accident in Iraq.

The other has the backing of the war memorial's board of trustees.

As the legislative session wraps up its first week of business, the two sides are preparing to duke it out.

In recent years, the memorial's board has taken the position that only those Virginians killed in hostile action should be memorialized. That means military service members killed in accidents and other noncombat circumstances would not be included.

That standard is stricter than those applied in the past to many of the nearly 12,000 Virginians listed on the memorial, a Virginian-Pilot analysis found last year.

At least 1,900 of the veterans - roughly one in six - listed on the wall died in training, plane crashes and other incidents outside of combat.

Last year, the General Assembly directed the board to come up with a consistent standard and report back by Nov. 1. That deadline came and went, and as lawmakers convened this week for the new session, the issue was still unresolved.

So Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax, introduced a bill requiring that the memorial honor all Virginia veterans who have died or been declared missing in action in a designated combat area under honorable conditions since July 1, 1990.

"I just felt the issue had to be dealt with," Watts said. "We need to move forward and appropriately recognize those who have honorably sacrificed in combat."

Several dozen VFW members from around the state were roaming the halls of the General Assembly Building on Thursday lobbying for Watts' bill.

The issue seems straightforward to him, said Hal Roesch, a former VFW state commander: "If you died in a combat zone, you should be included on that wall."

He cited the case of Marine Lance Cpl. Darrell Schumann of Hampton, who died along with 30 comrades when a helicopter crashed in a sandstorm in the Iraqi desert in 2005. Under the memorial's current policy, Schumann doesn't qualify for inclusion.

Del. Bill Janis, R-Henrico County, has introduced a competing bill with the backing of the memorial's board. Janis, a Navy veteran, is a member of the board.

Janis' measure would limit those honored on the memorial's Shrine of Memory to those who died from wounds for which the Purple Heart medal was awarded - meaning as a result of enemy action.

The bill would also authorize a new memorial wall honoring others who died while serving in the armed forces.

Janis acknowledged that the standards had been inconsistently applied in the past but said "that's hardly a reason to change the criteria altogether."

He said he has researched the memorial's history and believes his bill reflects the intentions of its founders. He rejected the notion that his measure treats non-combat fatalities as less honorable than combat deaths.

"It's not second-class status," Janis said. "It's expanding the mission of the memorial."

Bill Sizemore, (804) 697-1560, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com