Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The US Veterans Administration will not replace three tombstones of soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany inscribed with swastikas in its military cemeteries, calling them “historic resources.” A group that advocates for religious freedom in the military on Monday called on the VA to replace two World War II-era POW headstones in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, inscribed with swastikas inside a German cross, and the phrase, “He died far from his home for the Führer, people, and fatherland.”

Mother has special headstone made for deceased 4-year-old, only to see it removed because one person was bothered by it. What. It’s modern life circa 2017, I guess. Everything everyone does, always, everywhere, is fair game for everyone else’s mockery, scoffing, complaints, critiques . . . whatever. We can all speak to thousands of people instantly, or millions if we’re famous enough, so why miss a chance to #? Allow that type of thinking to become familiar enough, and pretty soon you get it in your head that you need to keep your fault-finding periscope up all the time, to...

Police in New York City have identified the individual behind a mysterious tombstone bearing Donald Trump’s name, a new report says. Authorities on Monday said Brian A. Whitely, 33, placed the ominous monument in Central Park late last March, according to The New York Times. The paper on Monday reported that Whitely has not been charged with a crime related to the incident. …

Trenton, N.J., Mar 26, 2015 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A New Jersey law crafted to ban the Archdiocese of Newark from selling cemetery headstones might not pass muster under judicial review, according to a constitutional law expert. Matthew Franck said the law “may well be violating the freedom of religion” guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution because it “singles out religious organizations for disfavored treatment.” Franck directs the Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution at the Princeton, N.J.-based Witherspoon Institute. He characterized the law as “a direct assault on the freedom of churches to offer services to the bereaved...

The family of a Colorado preacher’s wife is still fuming after the director of the city-owned cemetery refused to engrave her final resting place with the name ‘Jesus’ because it might offend people. The city eventually reversed course under public pressure. “We were in disbelief,” said Stacy Adams, the daughter-in-law of Linda Baker. “Who tries to censor Jesus from a cemetery?” “At first they told us it wouldn’t fit,” Adams said. “But after we kept pushing them the cemetery director told us that it might offend somebody. They weren’t going to allow it.” The family was devastated and asked the...

The family of a Colorado preacher’s wife is still fuming after the director of the city-owned cemetery refused to engrave her final resting place with the name ‘Jesus’ because it might offend people. The city eventually reversed course under public pressure. “We were in disbelief,” said Stacy Adams, the daughter-in-law of Linda Baker. “Who tries to censor Jesus from a cemetery?” Linda Baker lost her battle with cancer last week. She was the wife of Mark Baker, the pastor of Harvest Baptist Church in Ovid. Adams said her mother-in-law was passionate about her Christian faith and her family. Her final...

<p>As workers in the space industry look for ways to turn their talents into Earthbound jobs, one group has gone from mapping Mars to re-creating faces of the dearly departed.</p> <p>They've formed a company called LookLikes that is creating three-dimensional images of the deceased to be placed on grave markers. The images cost about $1,000, and the scanning devices the funeral homes will use to help make them are expected to be available for leasing starting in October.</p>

Time nearly forgot Lorenzo Reynolds. Buried in a grave with no marker, Reynolds spent nearly a century in anonymity in Historic Mount Prospect Cemetery in Neptune. That changes today as veterans groups and descendants gather at the Civil War veteran's grave to unveil a 3-foot-tall white marble headstone. "It honors him. He was a young single man, and he went and fought in a terrible, terrible war," said Mary Ellen McNamara of Allenhurst, Reynolds' great-great niece. McNamara, 66, said she doesn't know why Reynolds didn't have a grave marker. Perhaps his family couldn't afford one. Maybe that task fell through...