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Many veterans can't access VA Cemetery in Alton

It's a final resting place for those who served and fought for our nation. But disabled veterans say National Veterans Cemetery in Alton, Illinois, is almost impossible for them to visit.
Credit: Clancy, Samuel

ALTON, Ill. — It's a final resting place for those who served and fought for our nation.

But disabled veterans say this local VA cemetery is almost impossible for them to visit.

We're talking about the National Veterans Cemetery in Alton, Illinois.

Where the issue is a lack of ramps and other forms of access.

5 On Your Side's PJ Randhawa witnessed one veteran injure himself trying to access the cemetery

She said her investigation started last year, after reporting from a sunset Memorial Day ceremony.

"We were packed up and ready to go when I looked down the hill. I saw a veteran in a wheelchair. He was trying to get up the hill to be a part of the ceremony. He got about halfway up before he flipped over and landed on his neck. Luckily he was OK," PJ said.

It's a cemetery created to honor veterans. But some of them say it's not for them.

"I don't see any way to get up there. I feel like I'm on the sidelines," said Don Feldot, an Air Force Veteran.

The issue is there's no safe way for Feldott to get up this hill in his wheelchair. No way for him to see the cemetery, or pay his respects to the fellow veterans that lay here.

"That's way too steep to manage," Feldott said of the area surrounding the cemetery. "Any public place, particularly a veterans cemetery, should be ADA accessible."

"I just think it's wrong. It's wrong it can't be accessed," said Cathy Contarino, Executive Director of the Impact Center for Independent Living.

Contarino said she's been fighting to make the Alton National Veterans Cemetery accessible since 2005. Back then, it had just been given hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds for renovations, but Contarino said she spotted something.

"We came by and noticed 'Hey, things are torn up but we don't see evidence of a ramp.' And we started to question it," said Contarino.

Due to an obscure federal loophole, things like wheelchair ramps and access requirements did not have to be included in the changes. So they weren't.

"Even if it's not required by law, it's the right thing to do," said Contarino.

A few years later, complaints from veterans started piling up.

Now the federal government claimed the reason it couldn't install those ramps was that it didn't own the property on either side of the cemetery, the City of Alton did.

Brent Walker, the mayor of Alton, has offered up a piece of land on the left side of the cemetery entrance to for the ramp be constructed on.

The only problem? No one is sure if there are human remains buried here.

"I think they're trying to see now if it would be better on the other side," said Contarino.

A study will have to be done to determine if there are unmarked graves or human remains on the right side of the cemetery as well.

With that news, Feldott isn't sure he'll ever get to the top of the hill in his lifetime.

"It's getting tiring. One person says this. They pass the buck to someone else. We just want resolution for our veterans," said Contarino.

"We have the same rights as everyone else," said Feldott.

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