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SIERRA VISTA — As Arizona prepares for its 100th anniversary as a state in 2012, a special project at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery has been recognized as one of the first Arizona Centennial Legacy Projects.
Being called a cemetery within a cemetery, a nearly acre area of the state-operated facility will become the final resting place for about 70 soldiers who died between the mid-1860s to the late 1880s and were buried in what is now downtown Tucson.
They and hundreds of civilian bodies are being exhumed to make way for a joint court complex for Tucson and Pima County, leading to a need for a place to reinter the military remains.
That’s when Joe Larson, the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery administrator, stepped up, suggesting it was logical to have the remains brought to Sierra Vista, since they would rest among other soldiers and be near a still active Army post — Fort Huachuca. The land of the state-operated cemetery was originally fort property.
 A rendering of the plan for the Historical Soldiers Memorial Cemetery to be located in the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery. The small squares represent the grave markers. (Drawing provided by Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery Administrator Joe Larson) |
Larson knew funding for the proposed Historical Soldiers Memorial Cemetery would have to include private donations, and that led to the creation of a foundation to raise money.
Leading that effort, since Larson is prohibited from fundraising as a state employee, is Larry McKim, who with other veterans created a nonprofit foundation board, with McKim as its president.
And, tonight at the Sierra Vista City Council meeting, the foundation will officially receive a $30,000 grant to help pay for construction of the special area as part of the Arizona Historical Advisory Commissions Centennial Legacy Project.
Both McKim and Larson said the city’s grant is an important start in the fundraising effort, even though it is expected that the remains of up to 73 soldiers from the 1800s will not be reburied until 2009.
Currently, 63 sets of remains have been exhumed, of which 53 have been identified.
Another part of the construction site is expected to yield “up to 10 more,” Larson said.
McKim added that the remains are mostly of cavalrymen, with a large number of infantry soldiers, as well as soldiers who were a “musician, quartermaster and transportation” of that period.
Initially it was thought all the remains were of cavalrymen, leading to initially naming the project as the Cavalry Soldiers Relocation.
The plan includes a stone and iron fence around the site and a brick walkway through the center.
One part of the fundraising efforts — the construction and upkeep phase will cost in excess of $100,000 — is selling special bricks, said McKim, who is a commissioner with the Arizona Veterans Service Advisory Commission, an unpaid position.
Called “Pave the Past,” individuals may purchase 4-by-8-inch bricks at $100 each on which can be inscribed up to three lines of words.
For $500, an 8-by-8-inch brick, with space for six lines of copy can be purchased, and McKim said he expects those sales will be by service groups or companies. For another $100, an organization’s or business’ logo can be added to the larger bricks.
The plan is to have the cemetery within the cemetery completed in 2008, which will include individual gravesites for each set of remains, Larson said.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will provide 1800s period headstones that were popularly called “old buddies,” he said.
Mike Rutherford, the vice president of the Southeastern Arizona Contractors Association, said he is in charge of the foundation’s construction committee.
“We’re going to provide most if not all the labor,” he said, noting there will be costs to purchase materials.
The contractors have adopted the project, said Rutherford, who also is president of the Rutherford Diversified Industries.
Individuals interested in buying a brick for “Pave the Past” program at the Historical Soldiers Memorial Cemetery in the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery can contact Larry McKim at 458-7144 or by e-mail at Imckim@azdvs.gov.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
