Efforts to expand the Jefferson City National Cemetery appear to be on life support.
The men leading the effort to expand the cemetery aren’t the type to surrender.
However, after five years of trying, if one were to ask them about the chance their effort will succeed, you might hear resignation in their voices.
Leon DeLong, chairman of a Jefferson City committee whose goal is to expand the cemetery, said despite supporters acquiring land for expansion and donors willing to fund it, the federal government has spent the past four years offering the same response — no.
“Our roadblock seems to always be the federal government in (Washington,) D.C., saying (enough veterans aren’t) close enough — always turning their backs on us and ignoring us,” DeLong said.
The expansion effort began when a number of local veterans gathered in 2017 to see if they could come up with a way to find more space for veteran interments.
The cemetery consists of about 2 acres on a hillside at 1024 E. McCarty St.
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis operates the cemetery in Jefferson City.
Jefferson City’s national cemetery has roughly 1,800 headstones. However, that number doesn’t tell how many people are buried in the cemetery because multiple family members can be interred at some sites.
In spring 2018, the men had gained support. Behind them gathered both Missouri U.S. senators, two Missouri U.S. representatives, then state Sen. Mike Kehoe, and then state Reps. Jay Barnes and Mike Bernskoetter. The men squared their shoulders and sent a letter to the under secretary for Memorial Affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, asking that the feds begin the process of identifying a new national cemetery site in Jefferson City.
Kehoe, Barnes and Bernskoetter signed the letter. Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin also signed the letter.
Shortly afterward, Kehoe received the response.
No, came the reply. The reply said there were a number of Missouri veterans cemeteries within reach of Jefferson City.
“There are no veterans in the area who do not have reasonable access to a first interment option,” the response said. “Consequently, the area does not meet VA’s policy for establishment of a new veterans cemetery.”
The letter also said the VA would be happy to assist the group in an effort to create a new state veterans cemetery. However, expansion, or a new national cemetery were out of the question.
The men behind the effort are nothing, if not stubborn.
They persisted in asking for the expansion.
By 2019, they thought if they had property in hand, they could woo the feds. Supporters of expansion approached the City of Jefferson about acquiring East Miller Park, which sits across East Miller Street from Jefferson City National Cemetery.
In October 2021, the city agreed to transfer the park, located at 998 E. Miller St., to the VA, should it choose to expand the national cemetery.
If so, the city would develop a new park (across U.S. 50/63) on city-owned property along East Elm Street. Opponents to the proposition said people living east of the highway would have no access to the park. Supporters welcomed a new park in the economically challenged neighborhood.
Jefferson City moved forward with the transfer and put a time limit on it. If the VA did not accept the property within two years, it would revert back to the city.
And the VA again said no.
“Even with the land,” DeLong said. “And even with having the money to create the cemetery, it keeps coming back ‘No.’ We were talking about that. We pretty much backed off. We were wasting people’s time trying to work against the federal government.”
The next step for the effort was to consider establishing a state veterans cemetery in Jefferson City. The nearest such sites are at Fort Leonard Wood or Jacksonville.
So, the organization approached the Missouri Veterans Commission, which operates the cemeteries and also operates Missouri Veterans Homes.
“We were talking about the cemetery,” DeLong said. “Then it came out that they couldn’t support what they already have.”
Missouri’s Veterans Homes, like other long-term-care facilities, have struggled to maintain staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic. And because staffing is down, the homes have had to limit how many veterans they can accept. Missouri’s homes are at about 50 percent capacity.
That also stresses the homes because clients pay fees to stay there, and because the VA pays for services veterans receive at the homes.
A challenge with setting up a new state veterans cemetery is the initial cost. Missouri last created a state cemetery about 15 years ago at a cost of about $15 million, commission Director Paul Kirchhoff said.
After that comes the cost to meet VA requirements, Kirchhoff said.
Funding for the commission is sporadic, said Don Hentges, another leader in the push for expansion at the national cemetery.
Until the commission has a dedicated funding source, there’s no help it can provide, Hentges said.
“They’re just in dire straits for money — just to keep the veterans homes open and the cemeteries they already have,” he said. “They just don’t have the revenue to do it.”
Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, is another key member of the group trying to expand the national cemetery. Expansion was a challenge before the pandemic, but once it hit, barriers seemed to become insurmountable, he said.
He said he thinks expansion may be off the table.
“We might be able to put a state cemetery in there. I’m not even sure that’s going to happen,” Griffith said.
Hentges’ words reflected Griffith’s.
“There’s a very good chance it’s not going to happen,” Hentges said. “We’re going to have to make a decision here pretty soon whether to pull the plug.”
Hentges said he worries the city can’t move forward with its plans until some tough decisions are made.
“I’m going to have a meeting with (expansion supporters),” Griffith said. “We’re going to make a decision so we don’t leave the city on the hook.”