Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines that fought in the Civil War were made U.S. veterans by an act of Congress in 1957. U.S. Public Law 85-425, sec 410, approved 23 May 1958.
This made all confederate army, navy and marine veteran equal to U.S. veterans additionally, under U.S. Pubic Law 810 approved by the 17th Congress on 29 February 1929, the War Department was directed to erect headstones and recognize Confederate grave sites as U.S. war graves sites.
Just for the record, the last Confederate veteran died in 1958. So in essence, when you remove a Confederate statue, monument or headstone, you are in fact removing statue, monument or headstone of a U.S. veteran.
There is an organization, Sons of Confederate Veterans, who believe in respecting the memory of their ancestors who took part in the American Civil War. Regardless of your belief in the war it is a part of American history and will remain as such no matter your personal feelings. I had family on both sides of that conflict as did many other persons living in Missouri and feelings still can run high when the subject is brought up. I am not a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans but I have family members who are and I respect their view and feelings on the war.
I can well understand Rep. Warren Love’s feelings concerning the vandalism of the Confederate memorial in a Civil War cemetery. I feel the same way about the B.S. that went on following the Charlottesville, VA, bru-ha-ha when the attempt was made to remove a Civil War Statue and Sons of Civil War Veterans arrived to put a stop to the disrespect being done to a monument to a U.S. Veteran.
As is usual for the progressive side it was downplayed as a group of neo-Nazis and White Supremest who are still fighting the war when in actuality it was a group of American Citizens preserving their side of history.
El Dorado Springs