Idaho provides veterans with their own cemetery

BOISE — Idaho is ending its distinction as the only state without a veterans cemetery.

On Saturday, officials will fulfill what they see as a final promise to the state’s estimated 135,600 veterans with the dedication of the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery.

“Like I told my wife, the only thing I want in life is my little government headstone,” said 55-year-old John Kirby, a 25-year Army infantry veteran who was drafted in 1968 and served two years in Vietnam. “It’s either that, or kick me on the side of the road like a dead squirrel.”

A portion of the 77-acre rural site still within city limits in northwest Boise was donated by the J.L. Terteling Co., owned by a longtime Boise family. The other section of land was purchased from the neighboring Dry Creek Cemetery.

Although suburban subdivisions are cropping up in the surrounding foothills, abundant wildlife still lives in the area.

One recent hot and silent afternoon, a red fox dashed over sage-covered slopes while a family of more than a dozen California quail trotted across an access road.

Joe Bleymaier, a retired fighter pilot and Air Force colonel, has guided the state project since its inception.

Standing on the stone battlement known as the Flag Assembly Area, Bleymaier — brother of Boise State Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier — swept his hands across the horizon.

“This is for special occasions, a vista for visitors,” Bleymaier said as workers busily erected flagpoles, rolled out sod and filled in the finishing touches on masonry work this week. “Especially early in the morning and late in the evening, it’s a captivating place.”

An expected 3,000 veterans and dignitaries will be on hand Saturday morning for the dedication, which will include a missing-man formation overflight of Idaho Air National Guard A-10 aircraft and salutes from Civil War replica cannons.

Before the ceremony starts, the black Prisoners of War/Missing in Action flag that has flown over the Idaho Capitol since Veterans Day 2003 will be lowered and taken by police escort to the new cemetery. There, it will be raised in the center of a circle of American flags donated by families of deceased veterans.

The cemetery will be ready to accept remains in October, Bleymaier said. Already, there are 60 applications for reburial placement of urns.

The cemetery will have room for up to 4,400 graves and 4,280 urns, either above or below ground, plus an area to scatter ashes.

The lower section of the two-tiered cemetery will be available to veterans at no cost, while a plot on the top of the hill will require a premium of $300.

All the grave sites will have a simple, gray granite marker with the veteran’s name and rank. The name of the spouse will be etched on the reverse side.

For years, Idaho has been the only state without a federal or state-run veterans cemetery. There are 80 state-run facilities and 120 national cemeteries throughout the rest of the country.

Arguing among veterans groups is at least part of the reason why Idaho has lagged behind the rest of the country, former Idaho Attorney General and National Commander of the American Legion Al Lance said.

“The people in the north wanted it up there, the people in eastern Idaho wanted it there and of course some wanted it here,” Lance said. “It was probably the gift of land from the Terteling family and the proximity to Dry Creek Cemetery that cemented it.”

Lance credited the late Tom Moore, former commander of the Idaho American Legion, with helping make the cemetery a reality.

Moore, who died last year, pushed creation of the veteran’s license plate through the Legislature and receipts from the plates helped pay for the cemetery project. It is also being financed by sales of Idaho’s silver medallion, bearing the likeness of Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, who was killed in 2002 after a grenade attack at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait.