CRAWFORD COUNTY — People all over Northern Michigan came out Monday to give tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
In Crawford County, at Camp Grayling, a ceremony was held to honor a pair of National Guardsmen who died decades ago.
The ceremony was held at what may be the smallest cemetery in the U.S. and is where the two soldiers are buried.
At the event, an update for a push for a veterans cemetery in the county was given.
Former Camp Grayling Commander Wayne Koppa said the two soldiers didn’t have families, so they ended up having their final resting place at Camp Grayling.
“We have two soldiers that passed away in the early 1900s, Private [John] Conroy, and the other one, Private [George] Laine. Conroy died of pneumonia and Lane, drowned in Frog Lake and Conroy, died in 1927 and Private Laine, passed away in 1939, two months before Germany invaded Poland,” said Koppa.
Koppa said the military is a family and they take care of each other.
“People that have been service members think one of the best honors given to a service member is the opportunity to be, in their final resting place with other soldiers, so it would have been very appropriate for us to take care of our own,” said Koppa.
Which is why Koppa and a few others started a push in 2017 for the first state-operated cemetery in Michigan, which they hope to have built somewhere in Crawford County.
Koppa said legislation to authorize it was passed in 2022, and they expect a site selection announcement to be made in the next 45 days.
He said the impact would be huge.
“We speculate, according to the numbers in other states, that we could see 500 burials a year. And every time that happens, the veteran’s family saves about $3,500 on cemetery cost,” said Koppa.
For people like Kitty Lorensen, whose husband was in the military during Vietnam and passed away recently, she says she supports a veteran cemetery in Northern Michigan.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea. I, I think that our veterans deserve a place that is restful and peaceful and dedicated, you know, to the men who served so bravely,” said Lorensen.
Bill Romzick, a retired landscape architect who has done master planning design for several VA national cemeteries, has been part of the push for a state-operated veterans cemetery. He said it will be great for loved ones hoping to get their veteran buried nearby in Northern Michigan.
“[I’ve been] talking to people that are looking to bury their loved ones, who may be sitting on a mantle with urns of ashes. They are really really hoping to get the cemetery built soon,” said Romzick.
There are currently two national veterans cemeteries in the state, both in the southern lower peninsula. One at Fort Custer National Cemetery in Augusta and the other at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly.