Dedication of Sgt. Stewart's Plaque with Pentacle
December 2, 2006
Freedom Calls -- the concluding part of the Dedication
Remarks by Selena Fox:
"At this time of commemoration of Sgt. Stewart's life, service, and sacrifice, and this time of thanksgiving for this plaque with Pentacle, I ask that we continue to keep the Veteran Pentacle Quest in our thoughts and prayers. It is time for the US Department of Veterans Affairs to stop its more than nine years of delay, disregard and discrimination against the Wiccan religion."We are thankful that Sgt. Stewart has at last been honored with a plaque and Pentacle. However, there are other grieving families of deceased Wiccan veterans who still don't have a government-issued memorial plaque, marker, or headstone with Pentacle on it to honor their loved ones.
"On the side of the VA headquarters building, located across from the White House in the heart of Washington, DC, there is a quote from Abraham Lincoln -- it summarizes the prime directive of the VA: " To him who has born the battle, to care for his widow and orphans." I ask, where is the VA's care for the widows, children, mothers, fathers, and other family members of deceased Wiccan veterans? Why does the VA not give equal treatment and respect to Wiccan veterans?
"Recently, I spoke with the mother of PFC Stephen P. Snowberger III. Her son was Wiccan and an American soldier who was killed in action in Iraq on May 11 of this year. His mother told me not only of her grief due to the loss of her 18 year old son, but her sorrow and anger at the VA for not respecting the religion of her son and other Wiccan soldiers and veterans who have died. She told me that she is not able to order a memorial plaque for her son because the VA still has not added the Pentacle to its list of emblems it authorizes to be included on the memorial markers it provides next of kin for deceased veterans.