I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2701
To direct the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a program
to identify American-Jewish servicemembers buried in United States mili-
tary cemeteries overseas under markers that incorrectly represent their
religion and heritage, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL7, 2025
Ms. W
ASSERMANSCHULTZ(for herself, Mr. MILLERof Ohio, Mr. GOLDMAN
of New York, Ms. L
OISFRANKELof Florida, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms.
F
RIEDMAN, and Mr. GOTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the American Battle Monuments Commission to
establish a program to identify American-Jewish
servicemembers buried in United States military ceme-
teries overseas under markers that incorrectly represent
their religion and heritage, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fallen Servicemembers 4
Religious Heritage Restoration Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) An estimated 900 American-Jewish 3
servicemembers of the Armed Forces, killed in World 4
War I and World War II and buried overseas in 5
United States military cemeteries were, for various 6
reasons, mistakenly buried under Latin Crosses. In 7
most instances, those mistakes were made inadvert-8
ently. 9
(2) In 2022, more than 2,000,000 people vis-10
ited the United States World War I and World War 11
II cemeteries in foreign countries. 12
(3) American-Jewish servicemembers played a 13
vital role in the Allied victories in World War I and 14
World War II. 15
(4) American-Jewish servicemembers who 16
fought and died for the United States must have 17
their heritage properly recognized and honored. 18
(5) The United States Government has a sol-19
emn responsibility to ensure that every American 20
servicemember killed in action and buried overseas is 21
properly honored. 22
(6) The work of properly identifying American- 23
Jewish servicemembers buried overseas is vital and 24
integral to the responsibility of the American Battle 25
Monuments Commission to ensure that past mis-26
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takes in honoring those servicemembers who died in 1
the line of duty are corrected. 2
SEC. 3. FALLEN SERVICEMEMBERS RELIGIOUS HERITAGE 3
RESTORATION PROGRAM. 4
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The American Battle Monu-5
ments Commission shall establish a program to identify 6
covered members and to contact survivors and descend-7
ants of such covered members. Such program shall be 8
known as the ‘‘Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage 9
Restoration Program’’. 10
(b) D
URATION.—The Commission shall carry out the 11
Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration 12
Program during the first 10 fiscal years that begin after 13
the date of the enactment of this Act. 14
(c) C
ONTRACTS.— 15
(1) A
UTHORITY.—During each fiscal year de-16
scribed in subsection (b), the Commission shall seek 17
to enter into a contract with a nonprofit organiza-18
tion under which such nonprofit organization shall 19
carry out the purpose described in subsection (a). 20
(2) T
ERM; AMOUNT.—Each contract under this 21
subsection shall be for one year and in the amount 22
of $500,000 to the nonprofit organization. 23
(3) P
RIORITY.—In awarding a contract under 24
this subsection, the Commission shall give priority to 25
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a nonprofit organization that has demonstrated ca-1
pability and expertise in carrying out the purpose 2
described in subsection (a). 3
(d) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 4
out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated to 5
the Commission $500,000 for each fiscal year described 6
in subsection (b). 7
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) The term ‘‘covered member’’ means a de-9
ceased member of the Armed Forces who was Jew-10
ish and buried— 11
(A) in a United States military cemetery 12
located outside the United States; and 13
(B) under a marker that indicates such 14
member was not Jewish. 15
(2) The term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means 16
an organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the 17
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from 18
taxation under section 501(a) of such Code. 19
Æ
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