A project to build Alaska’s first state-run veterans cemetery has received a $7 million grant that will help it get underway.
The funding, which comes from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was announced on Wednesday. It will cover the design for the Interior Alaska State Veterans Cemetery, as well as some of the construction materials.
A “final honor” for Alaska veterans
The 257-acre site is on a hilltop in Salcha, a small community about 30 miles south of Fairbanks on the Richardson Highway. The property, which used to be a homestead, overlooks Eielson Air Force Base.
Alaska Office of Veterans Affairs Director Verdie Bowen said that after more than a decade of searching for sources of funding and the right location, the Salcha plot feels like an ideal place to lay Alaska’s veterans to rest.
“If you stand up there on a good cool day, you could watch the aircraft way off in the distance, flying out,” he said. “That virtually reflects the price of freedom, and the final honor that we’re placing on our veterans at this state veterans cemetery.”
Veterans represent at least one-tenth of Alaska’s population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data — a higher share than in any other state. Many live near the state’s military bases in the Anchorage and Fairbanks areas. Based on current population estimates, Bowen said they expect to inter about 70-90 veterans and their spouses each year.
The country’s northernmost veterans cemetery
This won’t be the first veterans cemetery in Alaska. The state has two national cemeteries, located in Sitka and at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, and one tribal cemetery in Metlakatla.
The proposed Interior Alaska State Veterans Cemetery will be the first veterans cemetery operated by the state, as well as the country’s northernmost veterans cemetery. According to Brown, that presents a few problems.
“Besides the federal funding, the land has been the biggest challenge,” he said. “Because when you go that far north — we have so much ice.”
But after many years of searching for the right spot, and then clearing a stack of administrative hurdles to get the property shovel-ready, officials are finally ready to break ground.
Hank Bartos, who leads a Fairbanks-based outreach program called Veterans For Justice, has worked on the project since its inception in 2009. He said that with the federal funding bump, it feels like the proposed cemetery is finally in the home stretch.
“We think we can get a really good start and make this thing come to fruition with the $7 million,” Bartos said. “And we’re all happy — all the veterans organizations around are really, truly happy that there’s gonna be a final resting place here in the Interior.”
Bartos, who is also a real estate developer, said the cemetery could cost as much as $17 million. Project leaders are still working on locking down other funding sources to get closer to that amount, but the $7 million is enough to get started this year. The project is expected to go out for bid on Sept. 1.
