Ayotte Continues Efforts to Ensure Veterans Have Dignified and Well-Maintained Final Resting Place

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte wrote the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) today asking for a detailed update regarding the commission's restoration and maintenance of Clark Veterans Cemetery (CVC) in the Philippines where more than 8,300 U.S. service members and their dependents are buried.

Ayotte wrote, "Based on our mutual commitment to ensuring those who sacrificed for our country have a dignified and well-maintained final resting place, I write to request an update from the ABMC regarding progress at CVC."

Following a volcanic eruption in 1991, the U.S. abandoned Clark Air Force Base and left the cemetery covered in ash and overgrown by weeds. When Ayotte learned about the unacceptable condition of the cemetery, she worked with Mark Begich (D-AK) in April 2012 to introduce legislation aimed at restoring the Clark Veterans Cemetery. After the Senate passed a version of Ayotte's legislation, the President signed the legislation into law in January 2013. Ayotte's legislation was endorsed by The Military Coalition, The National Military Veterans Alliance, and the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA).

When the government of the Philippines suspended burials at CVC in 2014, Ayotte successfully worked to end the suspension so that burials could resume.

To ensure the federal government does not make such a mistake again, Ayotte successfully worked to include a provision in the final Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a report no later than 30 days after the closure of any overseas U.S. military base that details a plan to ensure that an appropriate federal agency or private entity assumes responsibility for continued maintenance and oversight of the cemetery located on the base. This will help ensure that no cemetery will be neglected the way Clark Veterans Cemetery was following the Air Force's departure from Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines in 1991.

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