For Your Benefit
For and about Hawaii's militaryBy Gregg K. Kakesako
See also: In The Military
Widow of nonvet second spouse
can be buried in VA cemetery
with first husbandQuestion: I am a widow. Since my nonveteran second husband has died, I would like to know if I can be buried with my first husband, who died in service and is buried in a Department of Veterans Affairs cemetery.
I was told many years ago that I forfeited that benefit when I remarried an ineligible individual.
Answer: You and your minor dependent children, under the age of 21, are eligible to be buried with your first husband in a VA national cemetery.
The regulation simply states that a surviving spouse of an eligible decedent who has remarried an ineligible individual and whose remarriage is void, terminated by death, or dissolved by annulment or divorce by a court with basic authority to render such decrees, regains eligibility for burial with the first husband or at another VA national cemetery (unless it is determined that the decree of annulment or divorce was secured through fraud or collusion).
For more information on burial at VA national cemeteries, call 433-1000 or the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) at 532-3720.
Question: What is the VA doing about taking care of homeless veterans?
Answer: Nearly 25 percent of homeless people are veterans. The VA provides substantial hands-on assistance directly to the homeless. It has the largest network of homeless-assistance programs in the country.
The Honolulu VA, with assistance from U.S. Veterans Initiative Inc. (US Vets), a private nonprofit group, plans to use buildings and property from the recent base closure of the Barbers Point Naval Air Station to care for homeless veterans. Plans call for the establishment of transitional housing that will provide 118 beds for homeless veterans.
Additionally, VA will provide health care, rehabilitation, outreach and counseling programs.
If you have questions about your benefits as a veteran,
call Fred Ballard at the Veterans Affairs at 433-0049
or the Star-Bulletin at 529-4747.Gregg K. Kakesako can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
