By Mary Alice Murphy

Ray Davis of American Legion Post 18 at the legion's hall opened the meeting the evening of Jan. 17, 2018, for veterans and area residents who wanted to hear updates on the construction project at Fort Bayard National Cemetery.

Jared Howard, director of the Santa Fe and Fort Bayard national cemeteries, was accompanied by Brad Phillips, director of the Pacific District of the National Cemetery Administration.

"The cemetery looks much better than it did at this time last year," Davis said. He introduced Howard, Phillips and Joe Trujillo, who manages Fort Bayard National Cemetery on a daily basis.

Davis also recognized Santa Clara Mayor Richard Bauch for putting the flags on the road to the cemetery for each veteran's event, whether Memorial Day, Veterans' Day or for Wreaths Across America. He said Chuck Wenzel, an American Legion member, did a lot of welding for the flag holders.

"I thank Ray for letting us know about the concerns at the cemetery," Phillips said. "It's starting to look like a national cemetery. Hopefully by the end of this summer, it should be done. Our next step when the contractor comes back after winter is the irrigation, so we can put in turf. Once the irrigation is in, we will hydroseed with Bermuda grass in the older sections. It should be hardy here. We have 40 acre-feet of water available for the cemetery. In fiscal year, 2019, we will pave the roads. Ray and I have talked about some minor things we need to address."

Howard said he has seen many photos of the ceremonies held at Fort Bayard National Cemetery. "As always I'm impressed with what you do down here. In updates, we have received two bench donations—one from the American Legion and another from Rotary. I'm very excited about Fort Bayard. I've been at the Santa Fe National Cemetery for 18 months, but Fort Bayard is amazing to me. I'm proud of the contractors we have on board and I'm proud of Joe."

"We have opened the columbarium and have interred four so far," Howard continued. "The trash cans and the bases will be going back in. We are working on equipping the office for Joe to have an office, and we are in the process of getting chairs for the committal shelter. We will get everything you need to take care of those we're responsible for taking care of at Fort Bayard. Talk to me or Joe. Keep the communications open."

Marine Frank Donohue brought up what he sees as a safety concern. "At a funeral on Friday, a big woman on a walker was trying to get into what we've been using as the committal shelter from the west side. It's rock. The rock looks nice, but it's not safe. When we bring the casket in, we bring it from the east side, also on rocks. It's not safe."

Phillips said what he thought Donohue was speaking of is the rostrum. "It is not the committal shelter. The small structure is the committal shelter, although we know there's no place to sit."

"We can take some of the rock off once we come out from under the continuing resolution," Howard said. "There is also not a pad for the honor guard at the committal shelter. We will get in chairs. We will get it squared away and make it more attractive. We know the existing sidewalk at the rostrum is too narrow. The sidewalk to nowhere on the west side, whether it will go to the parking lot or the street, we don't know yet."

He asked that if anyone sees anyone trying to use the west side to discourage them and ask them to use the existing sidewalk. "We will take that on separately from the current contract."

Wenzel said several things are not right. "The committal shelter will only hold about a third of the people who come to funerals. The committal shelter is impractical. The rostrum is where people are used to going and they use the west side approach because they park near there. The honor guard puts on about 70 funerals a year. We used to stand on the north side, but now where we are standing is behind the family. The family never sees the respect we're showing their loved one. Most don't know we're there until we fire. We who do the funerals are all volunteers and try to arrive after the family is already there. My own personal feeling is we want to show respect to the deceased. We should be positioned in full view of the family. We always fire away from them. Now we're firing into the trees, all with blanks, of course."

Phillips said a pad for the honor guard is intended to be placed near the committal shelter where the family can see the members.

Wenzel asked if dirt to fill the inches of gap up to the sidewalk could be brought in so wheelchairs can get into the rostrum or committal shelter.

"Most people are still going to the center entry to the rostrum, which you took away and filled with rocks," Wenzel said. "There were other things we talked about today at a funeral. We take our flags. Would it be possible for the cemetery to have a set of flags? The stands are heavy. If the cemetery has a set, it could put out the flag honoring the deceased's branch of service."

"To address the center entry," Howard said, "my recollection is that it was just dirt."

He was corrected that there was a concrete sidewalk leading to it and now the sidewalk is gone and there are layers of rock where it was.

"We're going to go with the two approaches, one from the west side and one from the east side, not the center," Howard said. "Safety is a no brainer for us. Brad and I are in agreement on the honor guard placement."

Candy Luhrsen said people will not go to the committal shelter because they won't fit.

Howard said the shelter is the standard size for national cemeteries all over the country. "It will have 10 chairs and the other people will stand around. It's the exact size as all other national cemeteries. People stand behind two rows of five chairs."

World War II veteran Bill Harrison said: "We are still using the rostrum, but there is no handicapped parking."

Howard said the entire parking lot will be flat and paved. "I will work with Joe to make sure you can get closer parking. Do it verbally. Maybe in the meantime, we can come up with a couple of temporary handicapped spots."

Luhrsen said the American Legion Auxiliary generally sets up a table at the center entry, but this time they had to put it on the sidewalk and it wasn't wide enough.

Howard said the original design for the cemetery has never changed. "I know the first contractor failed. But when we became part of the Pacific District and got the litigation with the first contractor taken care of, we stayed with the same design. Our goal is to see it through and as we can, we will adjust things. Then we can address situations and things that we need to upgrade. We need to finish this project now. Then discuss what we can improve."

Doug Dinwiddie of the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society said Howard's predecessor, Susan Parks, had visited with the members of the society. "She and we talked about getting involved with the Legacy Project."

"We weren't picked up this year," Howard said. "We're doing much the same thing in Santa Fe. We want to work with the University of New Mexico or New Mexico State University to tell the story of notable people who are buried here. We'll try again next year."

Phillips said the project is trying to tell the stories of veterans buried at the national cemeteries. "What we do is pick some veterans. We tell their stories. (a community member noted that Fort Bayard has two medal of honor awardees buried there) At San Francisco, we picked a woman who was a Civil War spy. And did you know the Admiral Nimitz was relieved of command when he ran a ship aground. When we get more information technology in the future, we will have the capacity to take a photo of a marker, click on it and read about that veteran."

"At Santa Fe and Fort Bayard, we will do GPS tracking for gravesites," Howard said. "We will take pictures of the markers and will take an inventory of the entire cemetery. We will maintain it. It is another great tool to help us do our job, which is accountability for those buried here."

Melanie Goodman of Sen. Tom Udall's office asked if there were anything "we can do as a community or as a Congressional delegation with the Legacy Project and the entities?"

Howard said letters of support are always welcome, as well as any connections with the universities. "I ask you to send the letters to me or through Joseph to me. I will facilitate it."

Phillips noted that it "is still a nascent program."

Luis Terrazas of Terrazas Funeral Chapels said: "We work at Fort Bayard a lot, with Joe and the whole gang, who are very good to the families. One of the things we can help with is the columbarium. Sometimes, it takes a little bit of time to get plaques processed. We have a granite shop. We can talk to you about serving you. I know you completely take out the stone when there is a second interment."

Howard said: "Our standard is a brand-new marker, when the second decedent comes. Sometimes, there's something on the front the family wants changed. Things are going slower than we like. We had a good conversation with them back east. I'll get back to you, but our standard is to have the markers in place within 60 days."

"We would be glad to help at no cost to engrave during the transition," Terrazas said.

Luhrsen asked if the bushes around the rostrum were going to be watered with the irrigation to be put in.

"They are already getting watered by bubblers," Howard said. "The existing trees are well-established and get enough from the rain. For the turf, it will be irrigated probably at night when no one is visiting graves."

For a bench donation, Howard said the donor should talk to Davis. "It starts with a letter of intent to me and we use a standard bench. I review the letter of intent and where it will be put. The district engineer has the last say."

Davis noted that benches must be sponsored by organizations, not individuals or businesses. "It has to be an organization, not a political organization, and each bench costs about $2,500 to be manufactured, painted and shipped."

A woman asked: "What if someone wanted to plant a tree close to a gravesite? Will you plant more trees?"

Howard said the NCA has a process for tree donations. "When we work on cemeteries, the design is for the maximum number of burial sites. Getting trees in sectors is not really possible now. If it's possible, it won't be in the burial sections the way it's now designed."

A man asked about future expansion of the cemetery.

"They have done geotechnical surveys," Howard said. "They are still ongoing outside of my office. I know they are looking at suitable portions to add."

Phillips said it was in the exploring stage, not being planned.

"Longevity of sites is not a problem right now," Howard said. "We have quite a few graves in the new sections."

Davis said a person cannot plant a tree in a national cemetery. "You also cannot put an individual memorial, because it's not fair to others buried there. I know, because I asked about putting memorial bricks in, but was told it was not possible. Only one name, one time."

Howard said all the veterans' service organizations are what make things happen. "I'm impressed at your teamwork down here. Thank you for your patience. I'm proud of what we've done. I understand it's not perfect. I come down once a month. Joe and I talk every day. I think about you a lot. I'm still in awe of your young man, Tatton Allsup, and what he did, raising more than $3,000 for Wreaths Across America. I talk about him and you a lot."

"We will continue to do the best we can," Howard concluded.