[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8624]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     PRESS CONFERENCE: BERTIE'S RESPECT FOR NATIONAL CEMETERIES ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LOU BARLETTA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 3, 2015

  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, our national military cemeteries are 
hallowed ground.
  And I ask my colleagues to agree . . . and support my bill, H.R. 
2490, ``Bertie's Respect for National Cemeteries Act.''
  On October 15, 1969, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a man named George 
Emery Siple shot and killed Bertha Smith, known to everyone as 
``Bertie.''
  Siple was convicted of the murder . . . and sentenced to life in 
prison without parole.
  Thirty years later, he died in prison.
  Because he was a military veteran, he was buried in Indiantown Gap 
National Cemetery in 1999.
  He was buried there despite a federal law passed in 1997.
  That law said that veterans convicted of federal or state capital 
crimes . . . are not permitted to be buried in Veterans Affairs 
National Cemeteries or Arlington National Cemetery.
  For Bertie Smith's family, this is a heart-wrenching situation that 
has gone on for three decades.
  Jackie Katz--Bertie's daughter--has called it ``hell'' and a 
``horror'' to live with the fact that George Siple was memorialized and 
buried with full military honors.
  When I first began to look into this issue, it was clear to me that 
it was as frustrating as it was heartbreaking.
  Back in 1997--led by our Pennsylvania Senators--Congress passed a law 
that said that veterans found guilty of capital crimes could not be 
buried in our national veterans cemeteries.
  At that time, you may remember, the country was still reeling from 
the Oklahoma City bombing.
  And veterans everywhere were justifiably appalled that Timothy 
McVeigh, a military veteran, could be buried with full military honors.
  Now, McVeigh did not receive that burial.
  But a major problem we discovered was that the law was not actively 
enforced for others until 2006.
  Since then, the VA has relied on an ``honor system,'' which requires 
family members to willingly report their relative's criminal record.
  In 2013, Congress once again sought to protect our VA National 
Cemeteries by passing a law to explicitly allow the VA to remove 
veterans from cemeteries, if they had been convicted of a federal or 
state capital crime. However, this law does not extend to veterans 
buried between 1997 and 2013, a time period that includes George Emery 
Siple.
  That's why I've introduced ``Bertie's Respect for National Cemeteries 
Act.''
  What this law will do is:
  Require Veterans Affairs to take every reasonable action to ensure 
that a veteran is eligible to be buried, including searching public 
criminal records.
  It will clarify Congress's original intent by providing Veterans 
Affairs the explicit authority . . . to remove veterans convicted of 
capital crimes that were wrongly buried after 1997.
  And it will specifically provide for the removal of George Emery 
Siple from Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.
  This bill really only reaffirms what Congress intended in the first 
place.
  And it enjoys the support of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
  There are precedents for the removal of convicted murderers from 
veterans cemeteries--from Arlington National Cemetery, and VA 
cemeteries in Michigan, and Oregon . . . to name just a few.
  Additionally, nothing in the bill would withdraw previous military 
honors, such as Purple Hearts or medals for valor, otherwise earned by 
the deceased veterans.
  The discussion of military veterans who have been convicted of murder 
often raises the issue of mental health treatment and Post Traumatic 
Stress Disorder (PTSD).
  There is no question that PTSD is a real condition affecting many 
service men and women, and I have always stood for funding the 
evaluation and treatment of those who may be afflicted.
  That said, those who have been convicted of capital murder by our 
judicial system have been declared guilty of the worst offense 
possible, and any mitigating factors would have been considered at 
trial and sentencing. And I don't think it's too much to say that 
murderers should not be buried next to true American heroes.
  And the memories of victims like Bertie Smith should not be 
disregarded. I ask my colleagues for their support in saying that real, 
true honor really means something in our National Military Cemeteries.

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