Section 5123 - Compilation of war records; director of veterans' affairs(a) The county commissioners of the county are hereby authorized and directed, at the expense of the county, to compile a record of the burial places within such county of deceased service persons. Such record, so far as practicable, shall indicate the name of each such person, the service in which he or she was engaged, the number of the regiment or company or command, the rank and period of service, the name and location of the cemetery or other place in which his or her body is interred, the location of the grave in such cemetery or other place, and the character of headstone or other marker, if any, at such grave. Such record shall be known as the Veterans' Grave Registration Record of .............. County, and shall be a public record open to inspection during business hours.(b) The county commissioners of the county shall cause record blanks to be prepared according to forms prescribed by the Department of Military Affairs, whereby the information required for such record may be transmitted to them.(c) Every person, firm, association or corporation, including a municipal corporation, owning or controlling any cemetery or burial place within the Commonwealth in which are interred the bodies of deceased service persons, shall file with the county commissioners of the county in which such cemetery is located, a certificate, on the record blanks provided by said county commissioners, of the facts required for such record, as far as the same are within the knowledge of such person, firm, association, corporation, or the agents thereof.(d) The county commissioners shall cause record blanks to be distributed to such persons, firms, associations and corporations, as they deem advisable, with the request that such information be transmitted to them. Any such person, firm, association or corporation, except municipal corporations, upon receipt of such blanks or forms, who shall refuse or neglect to fill out and transmit to the county commissioners such blanks or forms within six months after receipt of same, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars ($100).(e) For the purpose of locating the burial places of persons who have served in the military or naval service or other branches of the combative forces of the United States during any war or armed conflict in which the United States was engaged, the Grand Army of the Republic, the United Spanish War Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, the American Veterans of World War II (AMVETS), the Marine Corps League, and the Italian American War Veterans of the United States, Incorporated, through their local camps, posts and branches in this Commonwealth, are authorized, without expense to the county, to collect the required data and prepare and file with the county commissioners certificates embodying the information provided for in this section.(f) For the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this section, the county commissioners shall appoint a director of veterans affairs, who shall receive such compensation as the salary board may fix.(g) It shall also be the duty of the director of veterans affairs to:(1) Assist the county commissioners in administering the provisions of this subdivision which relate to the burial of deceased service persons and their widows and to furnishing markers and placing headstones on their graves.(2) Assist war veterans and their families in securing their rights as such in matters relating to their person, property and care of family, under any of the laws of this Commonwealth and of the United States, and for such services the director of veterans affairs shall be entitled to his expenses incurred therein and additional compensation. Both expenses and compensation shall be subject to the approval of the salary board or the county commissioners, as the case may be.(3) Assist the county commissioners in transmitting records of burial places of deceased service persons to the Department of Military Affairs of the Commonwealth, for the use of the Deputy Adjutant General in charge of Veteran Affairs, and otherwise assist the commissioners in cooperating with the said Deputy.1953, July 28, P.L. 723, art. XXI, § 2123. Amended 1956, April 20, P.L. (1955) 1481, § 1; 1959, Aug. 12, P.L. 698, § 2; 1961, June 19, P.L. 461, § 2.