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Veterans cemetery to rise on Saipan
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Posted on Apr 03 2005
Soldiers who sacrificed their lives for flag and country could now be buried with the proper honor back home, as the Military and Veterans Affairs Office has been given the go-signal to build a veterans cemetery on Saipan.
MVAO executive officer Ruth Coleman said Gov. Juan N. Babauta received the word giving the cemetery project the go ahead from the Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration last Wednesday.
Coleman said both offices have had frustrations with planning, designing, and setting of the budget for the cemetery in the past.
“This has been a long time coming,” she said. She also said she is happy that Saipan would now have a final resting place for veterans that laid down their lives to advance the freedom enjoyed by American citizens.
She said negotiations for the said project began in the 1990s between CNMI and the U.S. veterans affairs office, which promised the funding but due to the original design, the allotted amount was not enough to execute the project.
The governor, she said, revived negotiations in 2002 that landed a new design that fell within the budget for the veterans cemetery. The proposed site for the said cemetery was identified back then and Coleman said the site would be just right behind Banzai Cliff in Marpi.
Coleman said the original project was halted when a Reed Warbler, a migratory bird in the endangered species list, was found nesting on the proposed site.
The new plan for the veterans cemetery now has blessing of the Environmental Protection Agency after the two sides reached a compromise to build the cemetery in phases.
Construction of the cemetery is expected to start next week when the designs are finalized.
