BLUFFDALE, Utah — James West has buried both his parents here at the state veterans cemetery. His father, Paul West, served in the U.S. Army. He was buried at the cemetery in 2020.
“He was proud of his service,” James West said.
“It was important to him to be buried here,” the son added. Spouses are allowed to be buried at the cemetery, too. Wednesday, Colleen West — Paul’s wife and James’ mother — was interred.
Just as it’s trying to add houses, roads and all that goes with a growing population, Utah is working on more space to bury its veterans and their dependents. The state-run veterans cemetery here in Bluffdale has been expanded — the Wests are buried in that expansion — and the state has bought a 5-acre horse pasture across the road to add more plots.
The state has also received a 100-acre donation of land near South Ogden for a new veterans cemetery. And the U.S. Veterans Administration is constructing its own cemetery to open later this year near Cedar City.
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Jeff Hanson, the deputy director of facilities for the Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, said the finished and planned expansion in Bluffdale could add 20 years of life to the final resting place for military personnel. The cemetery has been averaging 40 to 45 internments a month.
“At this cemetery,” Hanson told FOX 13 News during an interview in Bluffdale, “as of today, we have 10,360 veterans and/or spouses interred at this facility.”
Hason said a federal grant application to finance construction of the cemetery near South Ogden has been approved, but the funding hasn’t been issued yet. The state also receives a federal payment for each veteran it buries. That’s why, for example, what Paul and Colleen West’s family paid to bury them was far less than at a civilian cemetery.
What happens to that federal money in an era of budget cuts?
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“I think we’re pretty safe for the federal fee that we get for each burial at this cemetery,” Hanson said.
“The grants? It’s yet to be determined on that.”
Both the state-run and Veterans Administration cemeteries have eligibility criteria. <b>CLICK HERE</b> to determine if you or a loved one qualifies to be buried or have ashes deposited there.
