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FORT RILEY CEMETERY FULL -- LAWMAKERS ASK VA FOR

FUNDS -- "While a new cemetery would not be completed in

time to alleviate this situation immediately, it is vitally important."

 

Cemetery at Fort Riley, Kansas

 

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Story here... http://www.cjonline.com/
stories/092107/kan_201451676.shtml

Story below:

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New veterans cemetery sought

The last two unreserved plots at Fort Riley were taken this week

By Sam Hananel
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Fort Riley cemetery has officially run out of space, and Kansas lawmakers are urging the Veterans Affairs department not to delay funds for a new cemetery.

Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, both Kansas Republicans, on Thursday asked VA officials to make money available for the new veterans cemetery before the end of the year.

In July, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported the new cemetery would cost $6.8 million to $7 million.

"While a new cemetery would not be completed in time to alleviate this situation immediately, it is vitally important," Roberts and Brownback said in their letter to William Tuerk, the VA's undersecretary for memorial affairs.

The senators said the timeline for finding money to build the new cemetery already had been pushed back.

VA spokeswoman Jo Schuda said the agency's National Cemetery Administration plans to pay for the new cemetery during the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, but couldn't provide more specifics.

"We have our budget and unless there's unexpected circumstances involving any sort of emergencies for other closing cemeteries, the priorities wouldn't change," Schuda said.

There is no room to expand the existing cemetery, which is flanked on two sides by roads, with housing and other buildings nearby. Twenty-two burial plots that were reserved before 1975 will be honored, said Fort Riley spokeswoman Alison Kohler.

The last two unreserved plots at Fort Riley's cemetery were taken this week. Sgt. Joel Murray, 26, of Kansas City, Kan., was buried in the cemetery on Monday. He died Sept. 4 in Baghdad of wounds suffered during combat operations.

The final burial on Tuesday was for retired Army Staff Sgt. Celestino Rios, 83, of Manhattan, Kan.

"I'm sure this development with our last unreserved plot being taken has sparked interest in making sure the new cemetery gets going," Kohler said.

The military base has lost 133 soldiers and airmen in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003, though not all are buried in the Fort Riley cemetery. About 5,000 veterans and family members have been interred at the cemetery since it opened in the 1850s.

Fort Riley already has transferred 90 acres to the state for a new cemetery that will be about 10 miles from the old site. The new cemetery will be on the north side of Fort Riley Boulevard, just west of Manhattan Regional Airport.

Under a 1950 federal law, veterans cemeteries that fill up are replaced with new cemeteries built by the VA and then operated by states.

Once federal money becomes available, it will take about a year before the new cemetery could open for burials, Kohler said.

Meanwhile, eligible veterans can be buried at a different national veterans cemetery, such as Fort Leavenworth or at one of three other state veterans cemeteries in Kansas. Those cemeteries are at Fort Dodge in southwest Kansas, WaKeeney in northwest Kansas and Winfield in southeast Kansas.

Kohler said she has heard of people "who are holding urns waiting for the new cemetery to open."

The Fort Riley cemetery has been only for those who die while on active duty or retire from a military career and their single spouses and qualified dependents.

Unlike the Fort Riley cemetery, the state veterans cemeteries are available to anyone who served a term of active duty in the military, including reserves or National Guard, and who was honorably discharged. Like Fort Riley, spouses and certain dependents also are eligible for burial in one of the state cemeteries.

There is no charge to the veteran's family for burial in one of the cemeteries.

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Larry Scott  --