What Should Be Put On The Tombstone Of A Fallen Hero

Paula Davis, with the marker for her son Justin, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2006. It lists Operation Enduring Freedom instead. (Marvin Joseph)

At Arlington Graves, A Pain Beyond Words -- Washington Post

Along the meticulously spaced rows of graves at Arlington National Cemetery, the names of the nation's wars are clearly etched into the headstones: World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, the Persian Gulf.

Soon, a new inscription for troops killed in Iraq could appear: "Operation New Dawn."

Unlike in past conflicts, the overwhelming majority of headstones for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan at the nation's most hallowed military burial ground use the military's official names for those conflicts: Operation Enduring Freedom for Afghanistan, Operation Iraqi Freedom for Iraq. As of Sept. 1, Operation Iraqi Freedom has been rebranded Operation New Dawn.

Read more ....

Update #1: What War Do You Want Listed On Your Soldier's Grave? -- Time Magazine
Update #2: Headstone content an issue at Arlington -- UPI

My Comment: When my father passed away, there was a mistake on his tombstone. A misspelled letter (in Russian) that I noticed right away. Since he is buried in Quebec (Canada), I was told that no one would know the difference since Russian is not exactly a well known language in Quebec.

I disagreed .... I would know, and that was good enough for me to insist that his tombstone be corrected .... which they did.

Reading about this story at Arlington .... I feel for the family of Justin Davis and all those other families who are troubled by what is written on the tombstones of their loved ones. It is a big thing to them, and the Pentagon should recognize that and accommodate their wishes.

On a side issue, this story should have been put on the front page of every newspaper in the U.S. .... and it was not. This is unfortunate .... but it is now obvious (to me) that the wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere are no longer a priority for much of the main stream media .... and there is definitely little if any interest in following up on any of our fallen heroes.