Veterans Cemeteries in Utah

 by Peter

In honor of Veterans Day this week, I wanted to mention the two official veterans cemeteries in Utah. Of course, there will be veterans interred in nearly every cemetery in the state, and veterans memorials in just about every city. But, there are two officially designated cemeteries, one federal and one state.

The federal cemetery is the Fort Douglas Post Cemetery, located at Fort Douglas adjacent to the University of Utah. Fort Douglas, established in 1862 to guard the Overland mail route during the Civil War (and coincidentally to keep an eye on Latter-Day Saints whose loyalty to the Union was considered suspect by their commander), provided service to Utah and the United states for 126 years. This included conflict with regional Native American tribes and service as a recruitment and training center through both World Wars. It also served to house prisoners of war and foreign nationals interred during both wars. Those buried at the cemetery include soldiers who served during Native American conflicts, the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. It also contains the graves of over 50 prisoners of war. 

The Fort Douglas Cemetery no longer accepts new burials.

The second, and only active, veterans cemetery is the Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park, located just north of Camp Williams, home of the Utah National Guard, in Bluffdale, Utah. Overlooking the Jordan Narrows and Wasatch Mountains, the park contains a chapel, memorial garden, and several monuments to different types of servicepeople. The cemetery was dedicated on Memorial Day, 1990.