By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch A quarter-million dollars in state funding has been set aside for restoration of the Washington Solders Home Cemetery in Orting, giving financial backing to the efforts of volunteers. The new two-year state budget approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee includes $250,000 that will pay for work at the cemetery this summer and fall. Scheduled renovations include removing, aligning and leveling all headstones and flat grave markers, cleaning them with an environmentally safe biological cleaning solution, upgrading the cemetery landscaping, and developing plans for managing existing and future trees at the eight-acre burial site on a hillside above the Soldiers Home between Orting and Kapowsin. The funding was secured in part through the efforts of state Rep. Graham Hunt, whose Second District constituency includes south Pierce County communities. Hunt helped organize two cleanups of the cemetery grounds earlier this year, as reported in The Dispatch. Hundreds of volunteers participated. Hunt, a military veteran, said the effort helped call attention to the cemetery as a place for the public to "continue to honor and pay their respects to our fallen heroes.GÇ¥ He thanked the volunteers "who donated their time and resources earlier to begin the restoration. Seeing so many people embrace this project has been incredibly moving. Their efforts made a difference, and these funds will finish the great work they started." The cemetery has 2,265 grave sites that are the final resting place for soldiers from all over the United States, including veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Four Medal of Honor recipients are buried there. The state Department of Veterans Affairs runs the Soldiers Home and the cemetery. The department's director, Alfie Alvarado, said the improvements are "much-needed,GÇ¥ and she expressed gratitude for the money to pay for them. The work was scheduled to begin in July and be finished by Oct. 31.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment