New cemetery will help lay veterans' grave concerns to rest

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Gaines, 81, said he would love to be buried in a national cemetery but doesn't want to be buried in Florence or Beaufort, where cemeteries for veterans are located.

In the next five years, there will be another to choose from. A spot somewhere between Greenville and Columbia will be the location of South Carolina's third national cemetery, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is planning to build six national cemeteries by 2008.

The agency has embarked on the largest expansion of the sites since the Civil War, it says.

"We do need another cemetery," said Robert Weaver, executive director of the state Office of Veterans Affairs. "There's no question about it."

All veterans, except those with dishonorable discharges, and their spouses are eligible, he said.

The closest cemetery in Florence is still more than two hours away, and Gaines said four years is too long for some veterans to wait.

"You wouldn't believe how many veterans are dying and don't have a place to be buried," he said. "It's more about just knowing that you have somewhere to be buried."

A few years ago, a few guys he knew were trying to petition the federal government to buy land so that Greenville veterans could have a cemetery, he said. Unfortunately, one of the men died and the effort fell apart.

George Blevins, director of Greenville County Veterans Affairs, said the number one reason people are not buried in national cemeteries is distance.

"If it was right here and free, then common sense would say get buried in a national cemetery," he said.

Blevins said he would like to see a cemetery behind Richard M. Campbell nursing home in Anderson. Nationally, there is a shortage of cemetery space for veterans, said Kimberly Wright, managing program analyst for the Memorial Service Network in Atlanta. About 1,800 veterans from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War die each day, she said.

The agency is looking ahead to the years between 2008 and 2010 when they expect their greatest demand, she said.

The site in Florence National Cemetery has casket and cremation space that should last until 2030, she said. Casket-only space in Beaufort National Cemetery should last until 2008.

About 30 percent, or 37, of the 120 cemeteries are closed to new interments but may have space in gravesites of previously buried family members, Wright said. Twenty-three have space for cremated remains or space in graves of previously buried family members.

Roy Gullick, historian for the American Legion Post No. 3 and a WWII veteran, said a closer cemetery is a good idea. Although he is eligible, Gullick, 83, said he and his wife will be buried in a family plot in Greenville.

"I don't think I know anyone buried in the cemeteries in Florence or Beaufort," he said.

A brother, who was also eligible, was buried in the family plot instead of a national cemetery 14 years ago, he said. They would have had to travel a significant distance to visit the site, he said.

About 12 percent of veterans nationwide eligible for burial in national cemeteries elect to be buried there, said Jo Schuda, spokeswoman for the department. The new sites will provide more veterans with burial sites within 75 miles of their residences, about the maximum distance families are willing to travel to visit gravesites, she said.

The department has applied for funding for the 2005 fiscal year to begin selecting sites, she said.

Cemeteries are planned for Bakersfield, Calif.; Birmingham, Ala.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sarasota County, Fla., and southeastern Pennsylvania. Each will require 200 to 250 acres.

Each area has a veteran population exceeding 170,000, which is the threshold Veterans Affairs has established for new national cemeteries. The department manages 2.5 million gravesites at 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and33 soldiers' lots and monument sites.

In 1999, the Department of Veterans Affairs decided that national cemeteries should be able to accommodate 90 percent of veterans who live within 75 miles of the burial grounds. The study by consulting agency Logistics Management Institute found that 31 cemeteries must be added over 20 years to meet the VA goal. That means at least six new cemeteries would need to be built every five years.

Ishmael Tate can be reached at 298-4020.