A “miscommunication” that left military families standing alone without a service to honor their loved ones at Wyoming’s only national cemetery this past Memorial Day won’t happen again.
That’s the promise leaders at the Denver-based Fort Logan National Cemetery complex are making to those families. Fort Logan administers Cheyenne National Cemetery and officials there say they’re taking responsibility for dropping the ball. Despite the agency’s website advertising a memorial service at the Cheyenne military cemetery, nobody from the Veterans Administration showed up.
Fort Logan Director Tony Thomas told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that VA officials have met with the National Cemetery Administration (NCA), which runs national ceremonies, to discuss the oversight and prevent future miscommunications. The VA has pledged to hold two ceremonies in Cheyenne beginning next year.
“There was a miscommunication, and I personally have been there several times (in Cheyenne), meeting with the mayor, attending a town hall meeting a month ago, and have engaged with the community,” Thomas said.
The VA will be present at a Memorial Day ceremony at Beth El Cemetery in Cheyenne, hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1881. Then VA officials will host another ceremony at the Cheyenne National Cemetery, said Thomas, who oversees national cemeteries in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
“Cheyenne has a traditional ceremony in downtown [at Beth El], and we’ll have our ceremony afterwards in order to not break with their traditions,” he said.
Mix Up
Patricia Ross, a representative within the VA’s Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, said in a letter to U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, that the National Cemetery Administration, a division of the VA, took “full responsibility” for the lapse in communication.
“Unfortunately, there was a lack of communication within the immediate leadership group at Fort Logan National Cemetery, which oversees Cheyenne National Cemetery,” Ross wrote in the Aug. 29 letter, which was provided to Cowboy State Daily by Lummis’ office. “We are still reviewing the circumstances and actions that resulted in such an unacceptable situation, and I can assure you we are committed to taking appropriate administrative actions as warranted.”
Ross explained that the root of the miscommunication began in April when the VA informed the manager of the Cheyenne National Cemetery that it was unable to send a representative to oversee the Memorial Day event.
That led the manager of the Cheyenne National Cemetery to cancel plans for the ceremony. The manager informed leadership at Fort Logan National Cemetery that the Memorial Day event was not going to be held.
But the cancellation never stopped public notices and advertisements for the event from going out resulting in the crowd that showed up at Cheyenne National Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Memorial Day – many coming from out of town.
“Unfortunately, Fort Logan staff did not update NCA’s national Memorial Day ceremony roster for Cheyenne National Cemetery to reflect the cancellation and the ceremony continued to be listed publicly online through the Memorial Day weekend,” Ross said.
On left, Carol Anne Hopkins and Dale Hopkins, drove four hours from Riverton, Wyoming, to see the burial site of her parents and participate in the observation of fallen military heroes. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Lynda Drum visited the grave of her veteran father Harvey Frisbee, who served in the Marines in Korea and Vietnam, at the Cheyenne National Cemetery. “I talk with him about his new great, grandchildren, and seek his advice on things, said Drum, who misses her trips out to Curt Gowdy State Park with him and where he’d give her fatherly support as they sat fishing at Granite, Crystal and North Crow reservoirs. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
The Cheyenne National Cemetery, which is run by the U.S. Veterans Administration, is a 5-acre site located off Happy Jack Road, and dedicated in October 2020. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
From left, Debra Laurent, Kent Laurent, Stephanie Horner and Mark Laurent, drove from their homes in Nebraska and Colorado to visit the burial site of their father in the Cheyenne National Cemetery. The were looking forward to a military observation on Memorial Day but the U.S. Veterans Administration messed up the time of the event, upsetting many people who visited the cemetery on Monday. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily)
Best Practices
Ross said the VA is taking steps to prevent future miscommunications.
“We also are continuing to assess best practices to ensure this does not happen again,” Ross said.
The admission of the shortcomings in the ceremony came after Lummis sent a letter to the person in charge of memorial affairs with the VA asking the department to explain why none of its representatives came to lead the Memorial Day ceremony at the Cheyenne National Cemetery.
As many as 100 people showed up to the observance to remember America’s fallen heroes and loved ones.
“I would like answers on what exactly occurred so we can ensure this never happens again,” Lummis wrote in the May 30 letter to the Ronald Walters, the VA’s Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs.
“I was dismayed to hear that Memorial Day Services at the Cheyenne National Cemetery were not carried out as planned,” Lummis said.
People traveled hundreds of miles, including some from surrounding states, to participate in the solemn traditions honoring fallen heroes.
“We the people showed up today, but the government didn’t,” said Diane Fritsch of Cheyenne who was at the cemetery.
The cemetery is Wyoming’s only national burial place for veterans and was created just seven years ago.
In January 2017, the VA bought land located southeast of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Center on Hildreth Road for $64,099.
The initial phase of construction on the 5-acre cemetery was to provide 1,604 gravesites and include features such as a front entrance off Hildreth Road, a columbarium and memorial plaque wall, a flagpole assembly area and a gravesite locator kiosk.
The cemetery will serve the burial needs of more than 22,000 veterans, their spouses and eligible family members for the next four decades.
The cemetery was officially dedicated on Oct. 8, 2020, with the first burials taking place the following month.
Reaching Out
Ross wrote that leadership at Fort Logan National Cemetery is currently identifying and contacting veterans and their families who were stood up last May.
"Leadership has also met face-to-face with various stakeholders in Cheyenne to reestablish their trust,” Ross said.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
