Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park

Utah has one state veterans cemetery and the statute governing it is three sentences long on the question families care about most. Where it is. The Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park, 17111 South Camp Williams Road, Bluffdale, Utah 84065, just north of Camp Williams, with a view of the Wasatch Mountains. Office hours Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., telephone 801-254-9036. The department describes it as "state-operated" and as a venue for memorial services, funerals, meditation and other veteran memorial events. The statutory basis. Section 71A-7-301, subsection 1: "The department shall develop, operate, and maintain veterans cemeteries." The plural is the statute's; there is one today. How it is paid for, and the sentence that sets the fees. Subsection 2: to help pay the costs of developing, constructing, operating and maintaining veterans cemeteries the department may "(a) receive federal funds by following the procedures and requirements of Title 63J, Chapter 5, Federal Funds Procedures Act; (b) receive state funds, contributions from veterans organizations, and other private donations; and (c) charge fees for at least the cost of the burial of a veteran's spouse and any other persons, who the department determines is eligible to be buried in a veterans cemetery established by the state." Read paragraph (c) carefully, because it does two things. First, it authorises a fee only for "a veteran's spouse and any other persons". It does not authorise a fee for the veteran. That is why the department states: "There are no fees for a Veteran's burial." Second, the fee it authorises is "for at least the cost". That is a floor, not a ceiling. Most fee provisions cap a charge at cost; this one requires the charge to cover cost and says nothing about a maximum. The department's description matches: "there is a small fee (adjusted annually, call for info) for the burial of an eligible veteran's spouse or dependent child." So there is no published figure for the spouse or dependent child fee, it changes every year, and the statute does not constrain it from above. Telephone the cemetery for the current amount before you plan. This catalog does not state a number because the department does not publish one. How a burial actually happens, from the department's own description. "Families can choose any funeral home or mortuary to help plan your services. Bring the veteran's DD-214 or military discharge paperwork to the mortuary. The mortuary will send the DD-214 to the cemetery. The mortuary will also contact the cemetery to reserve a day and time for the graveside service and burial." Two useful points in that. You are not restricted to a particular funeral home. And the mortuary, not the family, is the party that transmits the discharge document and books the time, so the practical first call after a death is to a funeral home rather than to the cemetery. What the statute does not say, which is most of it. Section 71A-7-301 does not state who is eligible for burial, does not set a fee figure, does not address plot reservation, headstones, markers or the conduct of services, and does not create an appeal from an eligibility decision. Paragraph (c) leaves eligibility to the department: it may charge fees for the burial of "any other persons, who the department determines is eligible to be buried". Compare Nevada, which legislates cemetery eligibility and the free-interment rule in statute. In Utah the cemetery office is the authority and this entry reports what the department publishes. Other burial benefits the department points to, which are federal rather than state: headstones, markers and medallions, the burial allowance, graveside military honors and survivor benefits. Those run through VA under 38 U.S.C. chapter 24 and are described at the National Cemetery Administration. A family should not treat the state cemetery as the whole of the burial benefit. Two related state provisions in the same chapter. Section 71A-7-202: "Municipalities, towns, counties, or other political subdivisions of the state may grant burial sites to chartered veterans organizations without financial consideration or may provide a proper site for the burial of any persons covered by this chapter without financial consideration." A local government may give a burial site at no charge. It is permissive, so it is a question for the municipality. Section 71A-7-102: a county legislative body may raise and appropriate money for memorials "to the memory of veterans of any wars in which the United States of America participated", which "may be in the form of grave adornments, public buildings, monuments, recreational areas and facilities, parks, and public places". Subsection 3 limits it: a county "may not erect and maintain, assist in, or contribute to, the erection or maintenance of any memorial which is outside of the boundaries of the county." And one provision that matters when nobody claims the remains. Section 71A-7-203 lets a recognised veterans remains organization inventory unclaimed cremated remains at a funeral establishment and requires the establishment to release them on documentation that they are a veteran's or a veteran's dependent's and eligible for interment. The department must then authorise interment at the state cemetery and help arrange it. Utah imposes no waiting period at all for this, which is unusual; see the Utah unclaimed veteran remains entry.