Missouri State Veterans Cemetery - Jacksonville
Text
The autumn of 2003 saw the Missouri Veterans Commission expand into northeastern Missouri with the establishment of the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Jacksonville, a small town on the border of Randolph county. While the rural location and small population of Jacksonville may lead to a belief that the Veterans Cemetery would be proportionally sized, the site is instead large and diligently maintained. In addition, the cemetery has the same amenities as the cemeteries overseen by the Missouri Veterans Commission.
At over 110 acres, the cemetery grounds are even larger than the community of Jacksonville itself, and this was bolstered by an approved expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the summer of 2021. By pouring funding and resources into the cemetery, the VA sought to allow families of veterans within a 75 mile radius to have access to proper burial, emphasizing the strategic placement of the cemetery in context of potentially serving nearly the entire northern half of the state. Especially in the modern era, where older veterans cemeteries are running out of space, sites like the one in Jacksonville serve an incredibly valuable role as places where veterans and their families from across northern Missouri can come together to pay their respects.
The attention paid to ensuring the quality of service extends to the grounds themselves, most prominently visible is the ten acre lake at the heart of the cemetery that allows veterans to rest in a place of natural tranquility. Like a number of other veterans cemeteries in the Missouri/Kansas region, the maintained grounds make up only a small portion of the total acreage, allowing for this natural quiet to remain intact. Every hour on the grounds, visitors can hear the tolling of the cemetery’s most unique fixture - a carillon tower, a large structure with 23 bells that play music and often serve as war memorials. The carillon tower in Jacksonville plays traditional hymns, and it is that music, and the memories of the veterans who rest here, that echo on.
