CEDAR CITY — U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs officials have planned a community engagement session to explain and discuss Southern Utah’s first national cemetery, which is currently under construction in Cedar City.
Construction equipment at the site of Cedar City National Cemetery, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs project scheduled for completion in 2025. Cedar City, Utah, July 6, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
The event is scheduled for July 16 at Southwest Tech, 757 W. 800 South in Cedar City. It will open with a two-hour session regarding VA cemeteries and their operations. That will be followed by a one-hour site visit of the future cemetery grounds, located at 1600 South VA Way (up on the hill behind Home Depot).
Members of the public are invited to tour the grounds and ask questions of the engineers and construction team.
“We’re really excited,” said Roderick “Tony” Thomas, director of the VA’s Fort Logan National Cemetery Complex, which is headquartered in Denver and oversees national cemetery facilities in four states: Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. The region’s most recent addition was the Cheyenne National Cemetery, dedicated in 2020.
“Looking at the demographics and statistics for Cedar City and St. George, the veteran population is just exploding out there,” Thomas said in a telephone interview with St. George News / Cedar City News. “I’m glad we’re going to get a chance to talk to the veterans in their local community. We’re also definitely looking at talking to the funeral directors out there so we can get them involved in how to set up burial operations for veterans and their families.”
Project sign announcing the construction of Cedar City National Cemetery, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs project scheduled for completion in 2025. Cedar City, Utah, July 2, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
Thomas said he and other VA officials will also be meeting with leaders of local veterans groups and organizations during their upcoming visit.
The Cedar City National Cemetery project, which has been in the works for several years, is situated on an 8.7-acre site that overlooks the city from the south. Although construction of the initial phase is well under way, the project is still at least one year away from completion, Thomas said.
“We’re looking at maybe late summer or fall of next year for the grand opening,” he said. “We are just trying to get the word out. We want to have as much community involvement as we possibly can.”
After lunch from noon to 1:15 p.m. on July 16, an overview of national cemeteries will be given, covering such topics as types of burials, military honors, cemetery staffing and other details. An open forum Q&A session will also take place.
“We have some veterans who think that you have to have served in combat, or that you’ve got to be a Purple Heart recipient,” Thomas said. “None of that’s true.”
According to the VA’s National Cemetery Administration, “Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.”
Event flyer announcing a community engagement event in Cedar City, Utah on July 16, 2024 | Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | St. George News / Cedar City News
Additionally, family members of veterans, including spouses, widows or widowers, minor dependent children, and in some cases, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial in a national cemetery. So may certain members of the armed forces reserves, including those who die while on either active or training duty or who were eligible for retirement pay. For more information about burial benefits and eligibility, visit the National Cemetery Administration’s website.
Upon completion, the Cedar City National Cemetery will be Utah’s very first VA-managed national cemetery.
There are only two other cemeteries in the state with some level of VA affiliation:
One is Salt Lake City’s Fort Douglas Post Cemetery, a small, historic cemetery that dates back to the 1860s and which the U.S. Army formally transferred to the National Cemetery Administration in 2019. Located next to the University of Utah research park and the Fort Douglas history museum, that cemetery is not accepting any new burials.
The other VA-affiliated cemetery in Utah is the Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park in Bluffdale, which is state-operated through the Utah Department of Veteran and Military Affairs yet receives federal grant funding from the VA.
Thomas said he’s hoping to see a good turnout for the July 16 engagement event.
“Our whole point is to create community awareness and give those in the veterans community the opportunity to ask questions,” Thomas added.
Event details
What: U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs Community Engagement Event.
When: Tuesday, July 16, starting at 8:45 a.m. and going until 4 p.m. (see flyer for full schedule).
Where: Southwest Tech, 757 W. 800 South, Cedar City.
Admission: Free and open to the public.
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