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<p>Mr. Edmund C. Gass
Assistant Executive Director
Civil War Centennial Commission
1815 H Street, N.W.
Room 117
Washington 25, D.C.
Dear Mr. Gass:
This is in reply to your letter of April 22 concerning plans to rebury the last-to-die Union and Confederate veterans in Arlington National Cemetery.
Department of Defense would interpose no objection to the reburial in Arlington of the remains of the last survivors of the Union and Confederate forces in side-by-side graves at an appropriate site other than the upper slope leading to the Custis-Lee Mansion; Department of Defense does not plan to sponsor the project. The upper hillside has never been intended for use as a general burial plot. It is buttressed with sub-surface concrete beams to prevent landslides.
During the late 40’s and early 50’s while the last Civil War veterans were still alive, numerous suggestions similar to the one under consideration were advanced by public officials and private citizens. Bills were introduced in several sessions of Congress that would have accomplished this purpose. One bill even proposed that the men be buried at Gettysburg on the ridge where the tide of battle turned. Typical examples were H.R. 2069, 63rd Congress and H.R. 7766, 84th Congress. None of these measures were enacted.
Previously Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 64, 81st Congress, had been passed by the House of Representatives on June 5, 1950, and by the Senate on June 8, 1950. Generally speaking the resolution provided for the burial of the last survivors in Arlington with fitting ceremonies, provided the Secretary of the Army was asked by the families to make the arrangements. The resolution, effective during the 81st Congress, was an expression of the desire of Congress, but compliance by the Secretary of the Army was not mandatory. No requests were ever received from the families concerned.</p>
<ul><li>Keywords: gettysburg; battlfield; education; virtual experience; photography; monuments; memorials</li></ul>
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