A proper salute

Throughout military history, soldiers have known the difficulties of gaining ground, inch by inch, to reach an objective. And not just on the combat field.

The Inland Northwest’s patient veterans moved an inconspicuous but important step closer to one of their objectives this week when the Washington state Board of Natural Resources formally handed over 80 acres in Spokane County to the state Department of Veterans Affairs.

For at least a decade, veterans in Eastern Washington and North Idaho have desired a cemetery dedicated to them and their service to the country. Washington does have one national cemetery, but it’s nearly 300 miles away, outside of Kent in King County. For the loved ones left behind by some 16,000 veterans and spouses buried there, Tahoma National Cemetery, just off Highway 18, is no doubt a comfort.

The roughly 170,000 veterans who live in Eastern Washington, North Idaho and northeastern Oregon are eligible to use that site, too, if they don’t mind the inconvenience and expense it poses for friends and family members who want to visit their graves. Otherwise, a grateful nation’s offer of a place to be buried or inurned at no expense is only symbolic.

That is about to change, however, thanks to the region’s dedicated veterans, backed by an emphatic show of support from the Washington Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire. The vets and relevant state and federal agencies launched the process two years ago. Last winter, when the state’s lawmakers convened in Olympia, Spokane Sen. Chris Marr and Rep. Don Barlow introduced bills to assure the state’s participation. Both the House and Senate approved the final measure without dissent and Gregoire, a longtime supporter whose husband, Mike, made the cemetery a personal issue, signed it all into law.

The federal government will cover most of the $7.8 million cost of creating the cemetery, which, unlike Tahoma, will be a state facility. That means operating and maintaining it will be the state’s responsibility, something covered in part by specialty license plates purchased by some veterans.

A year from now, on Veterans Day 2008, groundbreaking is scheduled at the site off West Espanola Road near Medical Lake. A year later, if plans hold, the cemetery will be ready.

In many people’s minds, a final resting place, while appropriate, is a modest gesture compared with larger obligations owed to those men and women who have endured the tribulations of war, who have sacrificed their lives, their bodies, their emotions and their minds on behalf of their fellow citizens.

Other demands must be met, too, including adequate health care for veterans of past conflicts as well as the current ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But like battles, which are won in increments, the honors owed this region’s veterans will come step by step. This week’s accomplishment was mostly ceremonial. Expect more fanfare at the cemetery over the next two years.