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Mandan, N.D. – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Armed Services Committees, participated in the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery’s 30 Year Commemoration ceremony with Major General Alan S. Dohrmann, North Dakota National Guard Adjutant General, and Senator John Hoeven (R-ND).
“Attending the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery’s 30 Year Commemoration ceremony was an incredible honor. Every single veteran was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice—this is the fundamental difference between us and them—and they deserve all our honor and appreciation. North Dakota has the best National Guard in the country and their excellence was fully on display today. On this sacred ground, we remember freedom isn’t free and it is only possible because of our brave men and women in the armed services. We thank them today and every day for their incredible sacrifice and service to the United States of America,” said Senator Cramer.
Earlier this year, Senator Cramer’s Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act, which ensures all reserve components and the National Guard are eligible to be buried in state veterans cemeteries as long as their service was terminated under honorable conditions, was signed into law. In March, Senator Cramer penned an op-ed in the Southern Illinoisan calling on Congress to pass his bill to allow state veterans’ cemeteries to bury Guard and Reservists without penalty from the federal government.
As a member of SVAC, Senator Cramer shepherded the Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act through committee in December, and it passed unanimously out of the Senate on March 7, 2022. The bill even brought Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs (USMA) Matthew Quinn to Fargo to hear directly from North Dakotans on this issue.
