Veterans, family members and community supporters attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Interior Alaska Veterans Cemetery in Salcha on June 20. The cemetery will provide a dedicated burial site for eligible veterans and their families in Interior Alaska.
Ground was broken in June on an Interior Alaska Veterans Cemetery in Salcha.
It will become the first State of Alaska Veterans Cemetery and the northernmost veterans cemetery in the nation, providing a final resting place for thousands of Alaska veterans and their eligible family members, according to a news release from the Alaska Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.
Currently, eligible veterans can be buried at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery on JBER in Anchorage or the Sitka National Cemetery. The Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery also has an American Legion tract and one for Veterans of Foreign Wars, though there are military markers throughout the cemetery.
The new cemetery will also veterans and their families in Fairbanks and surrounding areas to be buried closer home. Federal support for the cemetery in Salcha came through the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Cemetery Grants Program.
The cemetery is expected to open in late 2027.
