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Utica proposal would give veterans final resting place

Observer-Dispatch - 6/13/2017

June 13--UTICA -- If it wasn't for a couple of American flags and small plaques in the ground, you might not even know there are veterans buried in a grassy plot at Forest Hill Cemetery.

The plot, which is almost full, is where the cemetery started burying those who were receiving Social Services when they died, said Gerard Waterman, the cemetery's superintendent. That includes veterans.

"I looked up one guy; he was a sergeant and he flew something ridiculous (like) 72 missions," Waterman said. "He was a gunner in the Air Force. Seventy-two missions over Europe. The poor guy's on Social Services. Like I say, you don't know his story, but just that alone he deserves to be under a flag or with his comrades or buddies or whatever you want to call it."

There is an effort underway to provide a more honorable burial to those veterans who do die while on Social Services.

Utica Councilman Mark Williamson, R-at-large, sponsored a resolution calling for all veterans on Social Services who die in the city be interred in a veterans section of local cemeteries. The resolution, which was approved by the council, also requests that Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. update the county's policies on veterans who are interred under the Oneida County Department of Social Services.

"I put flags on those graves every year since I've been retired," said Williamson, a retired U.S. Navy Command Master Chief. "It just kind of bothered me that these guys get forgotten about. Now if they're dishonorable, well that's a different story. But they served in a war and they're getting buried in ... the Social Services section. Now, that's not right."

Besides the Social Services plot, Waterman said veterans also are buried at other locations in the cemetery, including a plot that contains veterans from the Civil War and some from World War I. That lot has a large American flag hovering over it.

"So now what I have been doing for about the last 10 years or so, when we have a Social Service burial of a veteran, I put him on plot 42 so he is at least underneath the flag and with other veterans," Waterman said.

"Well, Mark thought that, not that's disrespectful by any means, but he just thought maybe all veterans should be all together," Waterman added. "So we have another ... veterans plot that we started years ago that veterans could purchase and they would be buried there along with their spouse. Now Mark thought that getting all the veterans together up on our veterans' plot, being Social Services or not, so all the veterans are together."

Picente, meanwhile, said that the county has a responsibility for burials for those in need that go through the county's Social Services agency.

"If they're indigent, if the family has no resources and is on Social Services, then we would pay for the burial," he said. "It's not a large sum. We pay $3,270 for a funeral or a cremation with services. We'll pay mileage if it's got to be out of the area and we'll pay for special services like if it's an oversized casket or something to that effect. There's adjustments, but the base is $3,270."

The county rate covers everyone receiving services, including veterans.

"But the issue here is we don't differentiate or classify between a non-veteran or a veteran," Picente said. "So it's a set rate. So to say that we pay more for a veteran, it doesn't apply. It's just a ... fixed rate for indigent people."

Most of the $3,270 goes to the funeral home, Waterman said, while the cemetery gets $500 to supply a grave and do the burial.

Williamson, meanwhile, said that if the county could spend $500 more per person, then all veterans could be buried together in the same plot.

"They're eligible for a bronze plaque maybe at the Social Services section, but as time goes on no one's taking care of it because there's no one left," Williamson said. There's no family members, so what happens is they just overgrow after a while, but a veterans cemetery you can actually have their name on a nice stone and everything."

Follow @OD_Gerould on Twitter or call him at 315-792-4995.

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(c)2017 Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y.

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