KENNEWICK — A farm circle between Horn Rapids Dam and the Horn Rapids Motorsport Complex could be the final resting place for thousands of U.S. military veterans.
David Puente and Solomon Gilbert, director and deputy director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, will share plans for a Tri-Cities cemetery with the Richland City Council at a workshop, 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 24, at Richland City Hall, 625 Swift Blvd.
The state and federal officials are working to establish Washington’s third cemetery serving veterans. They want it in the Tri-Cities, where an estimated 46,000 veterans live within a 75-mile radius.
Local families currently must choose from private and civilian cemeteries in the Tri-Cities area or travel to one side of the state or the other for the two existing veterans cemeteries.
The Washington State Veterans Cemetery opened in 2010 in Medical Lake, near Fairchild Air Force Base in the Spokane area. The other is Tahoma National Cemetery, in the Kent suburb of Seattle.
Buried at home
Earlier this year, the state began scouting for 100 or more picturesque acres in the Tri-Cities, a campaign dubbed “Buried at home.”
It believes it has found the right spot at Horn Rapids and Snively Road, in the far northwestern reaches of Richland.
The 140-acre property fronts Highway 240 on one side and the Yakima River on the other. Benton County property records indicate it is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
If built, the Tri-Cities Cemetery is expected to accommodate about 400 interments annually, providing not only a local option for the veterans living in South Central Washington, but an affordable one.
The cost is minimal for military veterans. Plots are free as is opening the grave, installing a vault and monument and maintaining it in the future. Plots for family members currently cost $300.
The Medical Lake Cemetery opened in 2010 and provided 900 services in 2023.
Buried at home
Locally, May Hays of the West Richland City Council and Shirley Schmunk, a Gold Star mother, have promoted a local cemetery for several years, part of their work to organize events for families who have lost members serving in the military.
An official cemetery focused on veterans would be more than a final resting spot for those whose remains are placed in graves, niches or scattered in designated areas. It would become a focal point for community events honoring military service.
The criteria for interment in a state cemetery echo those of the national system. Generally, all who served in uniform and were discharged “under conditions other than dishonorable” are eligible, as are spouses, dependent children.
The deceased need not have lived in Washington.
State and federal funds would build and operate the Tri-Cities cemetery.
Go to dva.wa.gov/tri-cities-cemetery.
