Veterans' burials nonstop at national cemeteries

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080524/D90S6FA81.html

May 24, 3:05 PM (ET)

By JOE MILICIA

RITTMAN, Ohio (AP) - The cracking of rifle fire silenced the twittering blue jays, blackbirds and killdeer.

As members of the color guard lowered their rifles, the smell of bitter smoke drifted over the family and friends of former Army Sgt. Ellis Hale, a Vietnam War veteran who died of prostate cancer at age 59. Sniffles and gentle sobs accompanied a recording of taps.

Moments after the final note, Sherry Hale walked down a curved brick walkway past the saluting line of representatives of the country's past wars. Head bowed, she clutched to her chest the American flag that covered her husband's casket.

The scene at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery is repeated nationwide more than 100 times a day. Military veterans are being buried at such a rapid rate that national cemeteries use heavy equipment to make room.


Sherry Hale, second left, leaves the military burial ceremony for her husband, Army Sgt. Ellis Hale, at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman, Ohio Thursday, April 10, 2008. More than a hundred veterans are buried each day in the country's 125 national cemeteries, which are expected to set a record with 107,000 burials this year. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)


"We're still in growth mode right now," said Bill Tuerk, under secretary for memorial affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "We're in a very high demand time period and we're trying to respond to it."

An average of 1,800 veterans die each day, and 10 percent of them are buried in the country's 125 national cemeteries, which are expected to set a record with 107,000 interments, including dependents, this year. And more national cemeteries are being built.

FULL story at link.

Why is that? Proximity, resources at the cemetary/with the family, wishes of the veterans in question, etc?

The military-family tradition with my family petered out after WWII and I'm on the wrong side of the border, so I have no clue how the system down there works for such things.

I didn't realize it was as low as 10%, but those are all understandable reasons for not being buried in a national cemetery.

every community. The nearest on to us is 160 miles over mountains. Better to have him/her buried near the family.