EC from DC - January 18, 2013

The 57th Inauguration will be special in many ways. Watching the President of the United States, Democrat or Republican, is always a solemn and awe-inspiring moment. This year, as President Barack Obama is sworn in for his second term on Monday, January 21st, that ceremony takes place on Martin Luther King Junior Day.

This week I am speaking at events in different cities paying tribute to the late civil rights leader. My hope is not only to honor the legacy of Dr. King, but also to inspire future leaders who want to go into public service. I will be in Wichita Falls, Texas, this weekend at a prayer breakfast that will raise scholarship funds for young people there. It is a city, of course, that holds a special place in my heart. I am a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, which was closed many years ago.

This Monday, we will gather in Washington and across the country, to mark two moments in history at the same time. It is a time to reflect on the upcoming 50th anniversary of Dr. King's remarkable dream – and the second inauguration of our President. It is my hope our country will continue to move toward equality for all, working together instead of apart, and recommitting ourselves to civility and respect for each other.

A recent gathering of the Base Community Council at Whiteman Air Force Base featured a very special speaker. Lt. Col. Jack Adams, USAF, is now retired but was a part of the Heart of American Tuskegee Airmen. Lt. Col. Adams offered the crowd a history of and his perspective on African Americans in the United States Military. His emphasis centered on the Tuskegee Airmen. Lt. Col. Adams also spoke about his good friend, Colonel Charles Mcgee, also a Tuskegee Airman, who was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Congressional Medial of Freedom. He was the first African-American Wing Commander of Richards-Gebaur AFB.

Opening the doors to thousands of service members' histories is the goal behind a new effort by the Department of Veterans Affairs. It has partnered with Ancestry.com, an internet-based genealogy research firm, to allow researchers and others access to information in burial ledgers.

The Department says this will bring burial records from historic national cemeteries into the digital age and make the collection, which is most of Civil War interments, available.

In 2011, NCA initiated a partnership with Ancestry.com to index its cemetery ledgers, allowing the data to be searched or browsed in a variety of ways. Ancestry.com spent more than 600 hours indexing NCA's records at no charge to the government. Ancestry.com has assembled the digitized and indexed NCA burial ledgers with those at NARA into a new collection, "U.S. Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960."  The burial records contain information such as name, rank, company/regiment, date of death, age at death, date of burial and grave number.  A large number of Civil War soldiers were buried where they fell in battle or in temporary cemeteries, and sometimes that information, along with religious affiliation, can be found in the ledgers.

The collection was posted on the ancestry.com website on Veterans Day 2012.  The information can be accessed free of charge by VA personnel as well as by employees of the other federal agencies that maintain national cemeteries, the Departments of the Interior and Defense.  Ledger data will also be available for free at all NARA facilities, and at public libraries that subscribe to Ancestry.com.  NCA cemetery staff will use the database to answer requests from the public.  The general public will have access to the database on their personal devices through Ancestry.com's regular subscription service.

Area residents from several counties, including Lafayette and Saline, recently met to discuss funding for rehabilitating and replacing dangerous and deficient bridges. Members of the Pioneer Trails Planning Commission joined representatives from Missouri's Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to talk about the BRO program. This is the Off-System Bridge Program. Those present listened to suggestions from MoDOT on how to best protect currently available dollars. This is an important issue I will continue to follow and update you on.

Emanuel Cleaver, II Member of Congress