7 people buried in the wrong graves at RI veterans cemetery

January 23, 2017 8:16 pm

By: News Staff

news@abc6.com

Seven people were mistakenly buried in the wrong grave at the Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery because of misaligned grave markers.

Veterans Affairs Director Kasim Yarn said they discovered the misplaced graves Thursday when a crew began digging a grave for the wife of a veteran already buried in the cemetery as there was supposed to be room in the plot for her as well, but the crew only found space for one person. They also saw a name on the plot that belonged to someone else, and the graves were off by one burial plot.

Yarn said while this is an unacceptable mistake, he doesn’t believe this was done maliciously and the department is taking steps to prevent this from happening again.