Arlington National Cemetery is proposing new rules that would eliminate burial and inurnment eligibility for service members who die on active duty but not in combat, ending a custom that goes back to the cemetery’s founding in 1864.
It is one of a series of tough new proposals, requested by the government, that seek to address Arlington’s fast dwindling space, according to statements issued Wednesday by the cemetery and the Army.
If approved, the new rules would end, among other things, the noncombat, active duty death eligibility that dates back to the Civil War, when burial was reserved
for those killed in action or who died on active duty, according to the cemetery’s website.
The cemetery’s first official burial on May 13, 1864, came after the death of William Christman, 20, a Union soldier from Pennsylvania who had died of disease.
In those days, disease killed many more people than combat.
The proposal also would end burial eligibility for military retirees but still allow them to be inurned above ground, according to a comparison of the new proposals and current rules on the cemetery’s website.
The new rules also would exclude the current inurnment eligibility for members of the reserves, Army National Guard, or Air National Guard who suffer noncombat deaths on active duty.
And they would not include blanket inurnment eligibility for many former members of the armed forces, which would seem to eliminate numerous veterans who served during the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
World War II-era veterans would still be eligible for inurnment.
The new proposals aim to keep the cemetery open for the next 150 years.
‘‘Today nearly all the 22 million living armed forces members and veterans are eligible for about the 95,000 spaces,’’ the cemetery said in a video that accompanied the announcement.
washington post