A Pembroke father is fighting for change after his appeal to have his daughter buried in New Hampshire’s State Veterans Cemetery was denied.

On May 9, Bill Byrne’s world shattered. His 26-year-old daughter, Army veteran Julia Byrne, and his 3-year-old grandson, Blake, both died in what authorities deemed a murder-suicide. Julia fatally shot her son before taking her own life.

In June, Byrne received a letter from the Shawn Buck, the director of the state’s veteran cemetery stating that if Julia were alive, she would have faced a second-degree murder charge making her “not eligible for interment.”

When Byrne appealed the decision, New Hampshire National Guard Adjutant General David Mikolaities upheld Buck’s ruling.

For Byrne, the decision came as no surprise, but it still stung.

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