County Veterans Affairs director outlines plan to consolidate burial records and distribute flags to veterans' graves

Josh Curry, the Franklin County Veterans Affairs director, told the commissioners his office is working to consolidate disparate burial and memorial records so families can more easily locate veteran graves and to improve regulatory compliance for federal, state and county reporting.

Curry said records are stored in a mix of formats — spreadsheets, Access databases, Laserfiche and physical burial cards — and that the office will publish burial-card information on the county website and press funeral directors to submit complete reports. "We're actually giving out over 14,000 flags this year," he said, noting that does not include cremated veterans whose remains were not interred in a county-maintained cemetery.

He referenced Pennsylvania statutes governing interment and memorial observance (Title 16, Chapter 155, Subchapter B) and said the county provides a $100 burial benefit for wartime veterans, a level he said exceeds the state regulation. Curry described a longer-term Graves project using GIS to map graves, collect photos of headstones and produce searchable coordinates so family members can locate veteran interments more easily.

Commissioners thanked Curry for the initiative and encouraged the records project and public outreach. Curry said the office will continue outreach to funeral homes and community partners to improve reporting and searchability of veteran burial records.