Published June 1984 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd A Fitting Memorial The Grafton National Veterans Cemetery in Taylor County has been closed to burials for more than twenty years for lack of space, a situation that has moved West Virginia's veterans to join together in an effort to provide another national veterans cemetery in our state. The years of hard work on that project by West Virginia's veterans and by officials in the federal and state governments were rewarded recently when the head of the Veterans Administration promised that his agency would "move as quickly as possible" to provide new national veterans burial space in West Virginia. West Virginia veterans received that promise from VA Chief Harry Walters during a meeting in my Capitol office, which was also attended by U.S. Sen. Jennings Randolph and Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia's First Congressional District, in which the cemetery is located. Walters pledged during the meeting that the $1.75 million in the fiscal 1984 budget that I was successful in designating for the expansion of national veterans cemetery space in West Virginia, would not be diverted to any other project, but would, in fact, be used in West Virginia. The VA Administrator also made clear during our meeting that for the VA to go forward with the West Virginia project, land suitable for burial purposes must be donated to the VA. Walters told the West Virginia veterans that the VA would study a plot of state-owned land near Pruntytown, only a few miles from the existing Grafton Cemetery, to determine its suitability for cemetery use. West Virginia Gov. Jay Rockefeller has already offered to donate that land for a veteran's cemetery. The VA's recent pledge to work together with West Virginia's veterans and with members of the Congressional delegation to achieve the goal of a new veterans cemetery for West Virginia will allow us to continue our efforts on both the state and federal levels to make the new site a reality. A new national veteran's cemetery for West Virginia will be an appropriate and fitting memorial to the sacrifices West Virginia's veterans have made for their country. June 6, 1984