Kansas Veterans Cemetery at Fort Riley

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In the late 1990s, the state of Kansas began to face a real problem - how to accommodate the increased need for veterans cemeteries in the region. Just as Missouri was doing at the same time with its Missouri Veteran’s Committee, the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs officially received permission from the state legislature to build and operate state veterans cemeteries. This initiative began with a site in Fort Dodge, which opened in 2003, and just six years later, in 2011, the Commission dedicated a new cemetery on a large plot of land donated from nearby Fort Riley. At this site, the team at the Commission on Veterans Affairs worked to ensure that Kansans that served at all levels of the military are treated with the same level of respect and care.

The ninety acres that make up the Cemetery at Fort Riley are the largest among the state-run cemeteries operated by the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs. Located northeast of the fort itself and directly adjacent to the Manhattan Regional Airport, the cemetery’s placement next to both plains and wooded areas emphasizes the attention to how the landscape would be shaped by the site. This effort was rewarded in 2018, when the cemetery’s team of groundskeepers and administrators were honored by Secretary Randy Reeves of the federal Department of Veteran Affairs with the Operational Excellence Award, declaring them to be one of the four best run veterans cemeteries in the country.

That attention to detail remains central to the cemetery, even through rough patches. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the state Commission on Veterans Affairs helped to organize a livestreamed, virtual ceremony for their service on Memorial Day. By embracing digital technology to help preserve people’s ability to honor veterans, the Kansas Veterans Cemetery at Fort Riley is part of a larger effort to continue to honor the veterans who have honorably served their country.