Pennsylvania Act 1929-251 — VETERAN'S GRAVES, MAINTENANCE BY COUNTIES

Act text

AN ACT

Providing for the location, care, and maintenance of graves of soldiers, sailors, marines, and members of the enlisted nurse corps; and for the compilation and preservation of records relating to such soldiers, sailors, marines, and members of the enlisted nurse corps, and their burial places, by county commissioners, at the expense of the counties; and imposing certain duties upon persons, firms, corporations, and municipalities, owning and controlling cemeteries; conferring certain duties on the Department of Military Affairs.

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the county commissioners of each county in the State are hereby authorized and directed, at the expense of the county, to compile a record of the burial places within such county of soldiers, sailors, marines, and members of the enlisted nurse corps, who served in the military or naval or other branch of the combative forces of the United States during any war in which the United States has been engaged. Such record, so far as practicable, shall indicate the name of each such person, the service in which he or she was engaged, the number of the regiment or company or command, the rank and period of service, the name and location of the cemetery or other place in which his body is interred, the location of the grave in such cemetery or other place, and the character of headstone or other marker, if any, at such grave. Such record shall be transcribed in a book, properly indexed, to be known as the Veterans' Grave Registration Record of ........ County, and shall be a public record, open to inspection during business hours.

Compiler's Note: Section 26 of Act 146 of 19316 provided that section 1 is repealed except insofar as it relates to counties of the first class.

Section 2. The county commissioners of each county in this State shall cause record blanks to be prepared, according to forms furnished by the Department of Military Affairs, whereby the information required for such record may be transmitted to them. Every person, firm, association, or corporation, including a municipal corporation, owning or controlling any cemetery or burial place within the State, in which are interred the bodies of persons who served as set forth in the first section hereof, shall file with the county commissioners of the county in which such cemetery is located a certificate, on the record blanks provided by said county commissioners, of the facts required for such record, as far as the same are within the knowledge of such person, firm, association, corporation, or the agents thereof. The county commissioners shall cause record blanks to be distributed to such persons, firms, associations, and corporations, as they deem advisable, with a request that such information be transmitted to them.

Compiler's Note: Section 26 of Act 146 of 1931 provided that section 2 is repealed except insofar as it relates to counties of the first class.

Section 3. For the purpose of locating the burial places of persons who have served in the military or naval service, or other branches of the combative forces of the United States during any war in which the United States was engaged, the Grand Army of the Republic, the United Spanish War Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, the American Legion, the Veterans of World War I of the U. S. A., Inc., the Italian American War Veterans of the United States, Incorporated, and the Disabled American Veterans of the World War, through their local camps, posts and branches in this State, are authorized, without expense to the county, to collect the required data, and prepare and file with the county commissioners or the city commissioners of cities of the first class certificates embodying the information provided for in section one hereof.

(3 and amended June 3, 1963, P.L.84, No.58)

Compiler's Note: Section 26 of Act 146 of 19316 provided that section 3 is repealed except insofar as it relates to counties of the first class.

Section 4. The county commissioners of each county in this State shall, at all times, see that the graves and tombstones of all soldiers, sailors or marines, who served in the military or naval or other branch of the combative forces of the United States during any war in which the United States was engaged, and who are buried in such county, receive proper and fitting care, and may employ all necessary assistance to carry out the provisions of this section. The expense of the care of such graves and tombstones shall be borne by the respective counties where said graves are located, except where suitable care is otherwise provided. Money so appropriated may be expended directly by the county commissioners, or paid over to the person, firm, association, or corporation owning or controlling any cemetery or burial place in the county where any such grave is situated; but the sum so paid over in any year shall not exceed for each grave the charge for the annual care and maintenance of like graves in the same cemetery, or, if no such fixed charge is established in that cemetery, it shall not exceed the sum charged in other cemeteries in the same county for like service.

Compiler's Note: Section 26 of Act 146 of 19316 provided that section 4 is repealed except insofar as it relates to counties of the first class.

Section 5. For the purpose of organizing, supervising and assisting the work of securing the records in the several counties, provided for in this act, and of securing uniformity in the forms to be used and records to be compiled, the Department of Military Affairs may employ such persons, at such compensation, as the Adjutant General may determine, which, together with other expenses necessarily incurred by the department in carrying out the provisions of this act, shall be paid from an item inserted in the general appropriation law to the Department of Military Affairs.