Photo of new MyVA Regional Alignment

By Mary Alice Murphy

Ame Callahan, the director of the Fort Bliss and Fort Bayard national cemeteries, gave an update on the status of the Fort Bayard cemetery to a group of veterans gathered at the American Legion Post 18 on Tuesday afternoon.

She gave a brief history overview of the national cemeteries, overseen by the National Cemetery Administration. The first national cemetery was established in 1862.

Callahan said the NCA has the responsibility for opening and closing a gravesite, grave maintenance and perpetual care.

The NCA, with 1,800 employees, oversees 8,812 acres of federal land. She noted that the family of every veteran buried in a national cemetery is eligible for a presidential memorial certificate, which the family can request.

The latest cemetery to be approved for New Mexico will be in Gallup.

Several western states have no national cemeteries, whereas New Mexico will soon have three, with the two present ones being Santa Fe and Fort Bayard.

"We in the National Cemetery Administration are committed and mandated to maintain every national cemetery as a national shrine," Callahan said. "We have apprenticeships for homeless veterans. It's a two-year program, where we teach the veterans to be cemetery caretakers. When openings come up, we will hire them. 82 percent of our contracts go to veteran-owned businesses."

She noted that the Fort Bliss National Cemetery not only has U.S. veterans, but German, Japanese and a few Chinese prisoners-of-war also buried there. "We average 10 burials a day and have five Medal of Honor recipients at Fort Bliss National Cemetery."

The first burial at Fort Bayard was held in 1866, and two Medal of Honor recipients are interred there. "We had 148 interments in 2014 at Fort Bayard."

In 1922, Fort Bayard was transferred to the Veterans' Administration, making the cemetery a national cemetery. "We have 18.9 fully developed acres. With a new addition from the state, the depletion date for the cemetery is not expected until 2037, and for the columbarium, 2043."

"I know you want to know about the new construction," Callahan said. "The $7 million project began in April 2013. We will have 672 new in-ground crypts, which are concrete and we can stack them two burials high. We will have 1,000 new columbarium niches, with two per niche. We will have a new public information center, new bathrooms, an electronic gravesite locator, new maintenance compound and you've seen the new committal shelter, which is almost complete."

She said the current issues of the unfinished project occurred as a result of the contractor walking off the job in August 2014. "We had issues with defects in workmanship, the new drainage lips were too high impeding drainage, and the contractor was not willing to complete the work. We are going back for architectural and engineering services. We will go out for bid, award the contract and set the work schedule. The timeframe for work completion is unknown. I would only be guessing."

Callahan showed a map of the new MyVA Regional Alignment. As a result of the new regions, Fort Bliss in Texas is in the Continental Region, and New Mexico is in the Pacific Region. Santa Fe has already been transferred to the Pacific Region.

"We are trying to work out a plan for Fort Bayard, even though it is in the Pacific Region, to continue as a satellite cemetery to Fort Bliss, which is the closest national cemetery," Callahan said. "Santa Fe is more than five hours away."

She received questions from several veterans in the audience.

Willie Andazola of the Vietnam Veterans of America local chapter, said: "We knew the drainage wouldn't work." He also asked about the additional land that the state was supposed to transfer to the cemetery.

"We don't have the additional land," Callahan said. "We don't know if the state will give it to us."

Andazola said the veterans never saw anyone checking the contractor. He also asked about the dead trees.

Callahan said there were 12 dead trees, and it was one of "our priorities to remove them. I hope to have by tomorrow morning permission to remove them."

Andazola asked about water to the cemetery, as using a "water buffalo" was not sufficient to keep the trees watered.

"That's another conundrum we have," Callahan said. "The contractor tore up the irrigation system to put in the drainage system. As of today, we don't know whether the community wants grass or xeriscaping for the cemetery. We did get the electricity back on in the old information center, as of last week."

Andazola says he sees a big, orange truck getting water from Fort Bayard. "Do you have a spare truck we can use to water the trees?"

"I am as concerned as you about the trees," Callahan said. "We'll come up with a plan."

Sen. Howie Morales asked if there had been any communication with New Mexico Division of Property Control on the land. "Is there any way for the state to help the process?"

"We are having a dialogue with the state," Callahan confirmed. "But it's not at my level. It's those higher up. Because Fort Bayard is a national historic site, we have to get the state historical preservation office involved. The office asked us not to pave the roads because of the history. Senator Tom Udall got that fixed.

"The NCA is aware of the problems at Fort Bayard," she continued. "We are working to get everything accomplished."

Morales asked her for the higher-up contacts, to which she replied she would provide them to him.

Ed Miller of the Deming American Legion post said Baca's Funeral Home in Deming was under the impression that Fort Bayard was closing, so they were sending veterans to Fort Bliss and Santa Fe. "I was with a grieving widow, who said she could not afford to travel to visit her husband's grave."

"I will talk to them," Callahan said. "Fort Bayard will be here for the duration."

Gabe Vasquez of Sen. Martin Heinrich's office asked, because of the unresolved issues with getting to the completion of the Fort Bayard cemetery project, would Callahan be willing to hold more meetings, to which she replied: "Absolutely, I will try to keep the community informed."

She discussed the issue of whether grass or xeriscaping would be more appropriate for Fort Bayard. "The only way for us to know is for you to make an informed decision. I will never lie to you. I came to this job to continue to serve (following her 24 years in the Air Force). I want Fort Bayard to be a good, dignified cemetery. We are going to fix Fort Bayard. It won't happen overnight, but it will be done. I will push every boundary to get Fort Bayard up to standards. We want to make sure you get what you deserve."

Melanie Goodman of Sen. Tom Udall's office said the senator would be meeting next week with the VA Secretary. "He will put in a good word for completion."

Former state Rep. Rodolopho "Rudy" Martinez spoke to the water issue. He said in 1866, Fort Bayard had 64.2 acre feet of water allocated to the site. It was increased later by more than 200 acre-feet, giving the fort more than 284 acre-feet of water. He said the original agreement for the water stipulates the uses, one of which is for the cemetery. "The state says the water belongs to the state, but it belongs to Fort Bayard. This water belongs to us veterans."

Callahan said the NCA would replace the removed trees. She cited some statistics for water use, as 20.5 million gallons of water per year for grass at Fort Bayard, which equals 1,300 El Paso households' usage. "When we went from grass to xeriscaping, Fort Bliss went from using 60 million gallons to 20 percent of that, mostly for trees and bushes." She said reclaimed water has been suggested, but it would be cost prohibitive for Fort Bayard. At Fort Bliss, the covering for the ground is a top layer of crushed granite from the Franklin Mountains.

She said people worried about sunken graves with xeriscaping. "When you have grass, you also have sunken graves. Traditional burials were in wood caskets, and when they disintegrate, the ground sinks. After a burial where there is grass, there is a bare spot until the grass grows back. With xeriscaping, the same day as you bury someone, it will look the same as the other graves. It will not be barren; there will continue to be trees and bushes, as we have at Fort Bliss." She said national cemeteries with xeriscaping can be found in Arizona; Bakersfield, CA; and in El Paso. With the past years of drought, you need to be thinking about water usage."

Jim Zawacki of the VFW and American Legion pointed out how fortunate the area is to have Fort Bayard, which is the national cemetery located in the smallest place in the country. "We are privileged to have it."

Callahan said, if the cemetery had not already been in place, when Fort Bayard was transferred to the VA, "you would be going to Fort Bliss. It is at no cost to you to be interred at a national cemetery."

She noted another disadvantage of grass. "When the ground is wet, the mowers leave ruts. You cannot walk with a walker easily in cemeteries with grass."

Harry Bright asked why only two burials could be held in a single day at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Callahan said there used to be the opportunity for three burials, at 11, 1 and 2, but "we need to get our personnel here for every burial, and, in the winter, they were getting home after dark." She said out of the past year at Fort Bayard, only two days had seen three burials.

Bright noted that the person who attends the funerals from Fort Bliss works for two hours and sits in his truck driving for six. "Isn't there someone who could do the job here?"

Callahan said the NCA was working with Veterans Health Administration to get one full-time person in the area to do the cemetery work and health work. "It's not economic to have a GS-6 here fulltime.

She noted that a new national cemetery at Yellowstone in Wyoming had partnered with the VHA for a full-time person.

A veteran asked why John Provencio, who has worked at Fort Bayard for many years, couldn't do the job.

"He is not our employee," Callahan said. "He works for a contractor. We must have national cemetery people give personal services."

Goodman asked if the bid process for completion of Fort Bayard work would be published in local newspapers. Callahan said the requests are put up at Federal Business Opportunities, but she could try to get the information out to the community.