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Portland veteran's cemetery is expected to be full by 2015
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 | No comments posted.
PORTLAND (AP) - The Willamette National Cemetery in Portland is the burial site for about 130,000 veterans and their family members. But officials expect the cemetery will be full by about 2015 and they need a new site.
The National Cemetery Administration in the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington said they are confident a successor site will be found at least three years before Willamette's closure.
When it is full, it will include roughly 160,000 people from all services and branches.
The first buried there was Blaine C. Van Ausdeln of Portland, a private born in 1892 who served nearly a year in the Army's 10th Spruce Squadron and was buried in 1951. There have also been generals, admirals and four Medal of Honor recipients.
The list continues to reflect the nation's modern wars: 26 soldiers killed in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Marine Lance Cpl. Randy Lee Newman, a 21-year-old from Bend who was killed Aug. 20 in the line of duty in Iraq, will join them.
Willamette is one of three national cemeteries in Oregon.
Of the other two, only Eagle Point National Cemetery near Medford has room for burials. Roseburg National Cemetery has room only for cremated remains, though an additional 17 acres may be acquired, said Jim Trimbo, director for both cemeteries. There are no state-run cemeteries.
Construction will start soon on the last expansion at Willamette, which is located on Mount Scott, an inactive volcano. The $8 million project will add 10,000 grave sites and 9,000 columbarium niches for cremated remains.
The cemetery, with 3,200 to 3,600 burials a year, might have filled even sooner if the trend toward cremations had not escalated, said Ken Rolene, Willamette's assistant director.
When he started working at the cemetery, about 5 percent of interments were cremations. Today, the rate is close to 55 percent.
Bill Jayne, with the federal department, said officials recognized in 2002 that Willamette was approaching its capacity.
Until the time it reaches its full capacity, officials continue their search.
So far, the department has only visited one potential new site: Camp Bonneville, a sprawling former Army training center near Vancouver, Wash. However, officials in Clark County, poised to accept the land from the Army, and have made clear that they have other plans for the site.
The National Cemetery Administration in the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington said they are confident a successor site will be found at least three years before Willamette's closure.
When it is full, it will include roughly 160,000 people from all services and branches.
The first buried there was Blaine C. Van Ausdeln of Portland, a private born in 1892 who served nearly a year in the Army's 10th Spruce Squadron and was buried in 1951. There have also been generals, admirals and four Medal of Honor recipients.
The list continues to reflect the nation's modern wars: 26 soldiers killed in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Marine Lance Cpl. Randy Lee Newman, a 21-year-old from Bend who was killed Aug. 20 in the line of duty in Iraq, will join them.
Willamette is one of three national cemeteries in Oregon.
Of the other two, only Eagle Point National Cemetery near Medford has room for burials. Roseburg National Cemetery has room only for cremated remains, though an additional 17 acres may be acquired, said Jim Trimbo, director for both cemeteries. There are no state-run cemeteries.
Construction will start soon on the last expansion at Willamette, which is located on Mount Scott, an inactive volcano. The $8 million project will add 10,000 grave sites and 9,000 columbarium niches for cremated remains.
The cemetery, with 3,200 to 3,600 burials a year, might have filled even sooner if the trend toward cremations had not escalated, said Ken Rolene, Willamette's assistant director.
When he started working at the cemetery, about 5 percent of interments were cremations. Today, the rate is close to 55 percent.
Bill Jayne, with the federal department, said officials recognized in 2002 that Willamette was approaching its capacity.
Until the time it reaches its full capacity, officials continue their search.
So far, the department has only visited one potential new site: Camp Bonneville, a sprawling former Army training center near Vancouver, Wash. However, officials in Clark County, poised to accept the land from the Army, and have made clear that they have other plans for the site.
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