CARIBOU, Maine — Members of the Northern Maine Veterans Cemetery committee invited newly elected U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin to town Saturday to get a feel for where the congressman stands on supporting the cemetery and County veterans.
Harry Hafford, chairman of the Northern Maine Veterans Cemetery Corporation, is adamant about getting congressional support to help future projects gain traction at the Caribou cemetery.
“My objective is to get Congressman Poliquin on board and support us. Many times I will go to the Veterans Administration and tell them what I need and it’s a lot easier to get something moving in Washington if you’ve got the support of the congressional people,” Hafford said.
The cemetery committee is currently working on multiple projects such as the addition of 434 niches to their columbarium walls, and double depth crypts for full-body burials. The new crypts will allow the layering of veteran and spouse. Hafford projects the completion of the niches and the crypts will come early fall, costing approximately $700,000.
“This is the final benefit our veterans will ever get and for a good amount of them this is the only benefit they ever get — to be buried in a veterans’ cemetery,” Hafford said.
Poliquin entered the cemetery’s meeting area and immediately began thanking local veterans on hand for the VIP tour and expressed how grateful he is for their service.
“We need to stand up in Washington and be heard in representing our families here in The County and our veterans. It’s important we appreciate their hard work and their service and make sure we have people in Washington that know that freedom isn’t free. And that means funding health care for our veterans, retirement benefits for our veterans … all the things that they have earned. I’ll be an advocate for them so they get exactly what they earned. We’re here because of their sacrifice,” Poliquin said.
Hafford introduced Poliquin to the cemetery by reading him a brief history of the facility and about the money hurdles the cemetery faced in its beginning years without a budget. Efforts began in 1998 and the cemetery was officially dedicated in June 2003.
Hafford admitted to Poliquin what he wants is a little “arm twisting” with the VA in Washington, “I’m good at that,” Poliquin said.
Congressman Poliquin was given a tour of the cemetery and he was impressed with the work the committee has done and made it clear they could count on him to be a friend in Washington, according to Hafford.
“Myself and the committee were pleased the congressman came — he’s an easy guy to talk to. We always need help from our congressional people and he’ll be a great supporter of us,” Hafford said.
The cemetery committee invited the congressman back with the hope of having him act as keynote speaker at this year’s Veterans Day ceremony.
