After serving in the U.S. Army in the 1960s, a veteran’s approval for burial in a cemetery for veterans has been rescinded.
John Ames served in the Army for four months during 1965. In 2004, his request to be buried in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Jacksonville, Missouri was approved, according to KOMU 8.
Fast forward to June 2017 when Ames, now 74, received a letter from the cemetery explaining that the veteran didn’t meet the minimum requirements to be buried at the site.
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The Veterans Commission said the most important factor in being approved for a plot in the cemetery is to have received an honorable discharge – which Ames has, according to the news outlet. Ames said he was relieved of duty after four months because the Army allowed soldiers with families to go home in May 1965.
When Ames inquired about his rescinded burial plot, Missouri Veterans Cemetery officials told him his records showed he served zero days in the Army.
“I showed them where on my records it says I served from February to May,” Ames told KOMU 8. “But it didn’t make them change their mind.”
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The Veterans Commission reportedly told KOMU 8 that it passed Ames’ information along to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will have the final say in Ames’ burial at the cemetery.
“Those days I served count. I was in there. And they just denied me as though I was never in the service,” Ames said.
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