Bill will allow families to place markers on veterans’ graves

Legislation that guarantees U.S.Department of Veterans Affairs gravestone markers for the familiesof deceased veterans has won Congressional approval.  The bill, which a West Hartford man pushed for nine years in hisfather’s memory, also provides medallions or bronze plates forfamilies to attach to headstones they purchased privately for theirloved ones who were veterans.  “This was my Christmas gift. I’m going to remember thisChristmas as very special,” said West Hartford resident Tom Guzzo,who had worked with members of Connecticut’s congressionaldelegation on the issue since 1998. Guzzo, 47, became involved in the issue after his father,Agostino Guzzo, died in 1998 at age 70. The elder Guzzo spent 14months during World War II in the Philippines, rebuilding roadsuntil his honorable discharge in 1947.  The Guzzos had already purchased a civilian headstone forAgostino, but a 1990 federal law disqualified them from receiving agovernment-funded veterans marker. Under that bill, the VA providedheadstones or markers only for unmarked graves of veterans who diedafter Nov. 1, 1990.  Federal officials estimated about 20,000 families were preventedfrom obtaining VA markers simply because they did not request thembefore purchasing a private marker, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd,D-Conn., has said.

Source:  Newsday, http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct–veterans-graves1225dec25,0,4694560.story