SCV Urges President Obama to Send Wreath to Arlington Monument

May 23, 2009
For Immediate Release:

The Sons of Confederate Veterans urge President Obama to continue the long standing tradition of sending a wreath to the Confederate Monument in Arlington Cemetery. This tradition began with President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 when he spoke at the dedication of the monument and should be continued as it is an important part of the civic and memorial life of the nation.

There has recently been a letter circulated urging President Obama to forgo the practice of sending a wreath to the monument in Arlington. That letter is filled with false conjectures and absolute lies about the history of the Confederacy and the remembrance of it in our nation. It is signed by supposed “academics and scholars”. One signer of this letter is Bill Ayers , once a member of the radical Weather Undergound who have admitted their part in conducting terrorist bombings against the police and government facilities of the United States. Furthermore, others that signed this letter are avowed Marxists who are enemies of the American way of life.

Beside long standing tradition, President Obama should send a wreath to the Confederate Monument at Arlington Cemetery because all Confederate Veterans have the status as American Veterans as well.

Several acts of Congress, which are listed below, have defined Veterans of the Confederate States of America as Veterans of the United States due the same benefits and honors as any other American Veteran.


End Release

On Background:

Organizational Contacts:

Commander in Chief Chuck McMichael 318-963-9892

Lt. Commander in Chief Michael Givens 843-252-1860

Chief of Staff Chuck Rand 318-387-3791

Head of Public Relations Jeff Davis 770 297-4788

Three of the laws referenced in the release:

P.L. 38, 59th Congress, Chap. 631-34 Stat. 56)
U.S. Public Law 810, Approved by 17th Congress 26 February 1929(45 Stat 1307 - Currently on the books as 38 U.S. Code, Sec. 2306)

This law, passed by the U.S. Congress, authorized the “Secretary of War to erect headstones over the graves of soldiers who served in the Confederate Army and to direct him to preserve in the records of the War Department the names and places of burial of all soldiers for whom such headstones shall have been erected.”

U.S. Public Law 85-425: Sec. 410 Approved 23 May 1958(US Statutes at Large Volume 72, Part 1, Page 133-134)

The Administrator shall pay to each person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War a monthly pension in the same amounts and subject to the same conditions as would have been applicable to such person under the laws in effect on December 31, 1957, if his service in such forces had been service in the military or naval forces of the United States.

U.S. Code Title 38 - Veterans’ Benefits, Part II -

General Benefits, Chapter 15 - Pension for Non-Service-Connected Disability or Death or for Service, Subchapter I - General, § 1501. Definitions: (3) The term “Civil War veteran” includes a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, and the term “active military or naval service” includes active service in those forces.