State Officials Ask Veterans Affairs to Allow Wiccan Symbol on Headstone of Fallen Soldier

May 26, 2006

Source: The New York Times

Wire Service: AP

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/26/us/26brfs-brief-001.html?ex=1158724800&en=5eddc1587efc5825&ei=5070

On May 26, 2006 the Associated Press reported, "State officials are pressing the Department of Veteran Affairs to allow the family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan to place a Wiccan symbol on his headstone. Federal officials have refused to grant the requests of the family of the soldier, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, of Fernley, who died in September when a Nevada Army National Guard helicopter was shot down. He was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which the department does not recognize. The family hopes to add a pentacle, or five-pointed star inside a circle, to the stone."