Veterans cemetery director named

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A retired Air Force senior master sergeant has been named the first director of the new state veterans cemetery in Bloomfield.

Ken Swearengin of Warrensburg, Mo., has been the grounds-crew supervisor at the Higginsville State Veterans Cemetery near Kansas City, Mo., since July 1999. The Missouri Veterans Commission in Jefferson City on Wednesday appointed Swearengin to run the Bloomfield cemetery.

Swearengin said his first goal as director is to assure that construction, which has yet to begin, at Bloomfield goes smoothly.

"It is only going to happen once, so hopefully we'll get it right," Swearengin said.

The commission intends to select a contractor next month, with construction to begin shortly thereafter. The U.S. Veterans Administration is paying for the project, which is expected to cost $5.5 million to $6 million.

Until the cemetery opens for burials in spring 2003, Swearengin will be involved in promoting the cemetery.

"I will spend most of my time in community outreach and getting out the news as to how to be eligible" for burial there, Swearengin said. "It will take quite a bit of work getting the community involved with it."

Near museum, library

The cemetery will be located just south of the center of Bloomfield and adjacent to the Stars and Stripes Museum and Library on a 65-acre site off of Highway 25.

Swearengin said he expects the cemetery and museum to enjoy a close relationship. Stars and Stripes, the official newspaper of the U.S. military, was first published at Bloomfield during the Civil War by Union troops who captured the town.

"I'm retired military, so Stars and Stripes has always been a part of my life," Swearengin said.

His wife, Lawanda, is an amateur historian who holds a degree in history and plans to volunteer at the museum, Swearengin said.

Will move soon

Swearengin, 47, served in the Air Force from 1973 to 1994 and was a security specialist at Whiteman Air Force Base near Warrensburg when he retired. He plans to move to Bloomfield in the next couple of months.

Ron Taylor, superintendent of services and cemeteries for the Veterans Commission, said having a veteran in the post is not required but beneficial.

"There are probably certain advantages when dealing with veterans and their families in that you've been through it with your military experience," Taylor said.

The Bloomfield cemetery and another at Jacksonville in northeast Missouri that is on the same timetable will be the third and fourth new facilities in the state veterans cemetery system. The first two, at Higginsville and Springfield, opened in 1999. No others are planned.

Honorably discharged veterans who lived in Missouri at any point in their lives are eligible for internment in the state cemeteries.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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