Headstones at Arlington

[boisbelleau]

Hello all,

 

I thought medals awarded to individuals were usually listed on the headstones at Arlington. I was doing some reasearch on the attack on Bouresches on June 6-8, 1918 and I came across Pvt Herbert D. Dunlavy 96th Co. 6th Regt, USMC who won a DSC and Navy Cross as well as a Silver Star Citation for actions during the battle and he was KIA on June 8. I found a photo of his grave at Arlington on Find-A-Grave but it shows no listing of these medals. Any reason why these should not be aknowledged??

 

Therry

[patches]

Hello all,

 

I thought medals awarded to individuals were usually listed on the headstones at Arlington. I was doing some reasearch on the attack on Bouresches on June 6-8, 1918 and I came across Pvt Herbert D. Dunlavy 96th Co. 6th Regt, USMC who won a DSC and Navy Cross as well as a Silver Star Citation for actions during the battle and he was KIA on June 8. I found a photo of his grave at Arlington on Find-A-Grave but it shows no listing of these medals. Any reason why these should not be aknowledged??

 

Therry

 

Indeed, they always do list high valor awards on the GI tombstone, I have no idea why it would not be listed, maybe you can contact the people over there at Arlinton?

[mvmhm]

The next of kin fills out the paperwork to tell the Govt how to engrave it...you can pick various religious emblems, or none, terms of endearment, campaigns, wars etc...this includes awards and decorations...the current form is the VA Form 40-1330...here's a link to teh page and you can check out the form to see what it has:

 

http://www.cem.va.gov/hm_hm.asp

 

 

Keep in mind, when his stone was made, the family might not have understood they could put his medals on it, or maybe they didn't want to...

 

 

Mark sends

[J_Andrews]

Per post #3: These are facts in the WWII and especially POST-WWII era.

 

Earlier, the headstones got only the info reflected on the military paperwork that was focused on

accountability of the remains and proper burial. If the medals were not awarded until after the

shipment of the remains, no one at Arlington was obliged to check for any updates.

 

Even later, decorations are often missing. Just due to lack of good paperwork reaching the right

administrator/stonecutter in time.