Camp Nelson National Cemetery pushing for expansion as space is running out

JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - As Memorial Day approaches, we remember the sacrifice of so many veterans. Thousands are laid to rest at Camp Nelson Nation Cemetery in Jessamine County.

Men and women from the Civil War to today’s conflicts are buried there. But the cemetery is a year or so away from running out of room.

The lines are precise, the grass neatly trimmed on the hillsides, quiet except for the hum of lawn mowers— far different from the chaos of war.

“It’s very important for us that these veterans who are laid to rest at Camp Nelson are not forgotten,” said Mike Niklarz, the director of Camp Nelson National Cemetery.

As of April, Niklarz says 19,000 souls rest there. Veterans starting with the Civil War, more than a thousand remains unknown, marked by smaller stone, and next to many lie their wives and husbands.

Four members of WKYT’s Sam Dick’s family are buried there at Camp Nelson National Cemetery, including his Uncle Harry Richart Jr. Captain Richart served in the US Army in World War II under Patton in a tank. Captain Richart was wounded twice in World War II and captured twice by the Germans, and Camp Nelson is his final resting place.

“I have a saying to the guys, it’s not about me, or them, it’s about ‘them.’ That’s what we’re here for,” Niklarz said.

From the air, the lines of marble headstones fan out in every direction, but there’s only so much room. Time is running out, and the cemetery director says with the current space, they’ll run out of burial plots in a year, maybe a year and a half.

“One day I’ll be buried here somewhere. I want to be with my soldiers. I want to be with my brothers and sisters. So that’s the brotherhood,” Army veteran Denny Hart said.

Hart calls Camp Nelson “hallowed ground,” and he treats each veteran buried there with the utmost respect and reverence.

Nearby the Earth is being prepared. For the first time in more than two decades, Camp Nelson is expanding on a dozen acres.

“The expansion is critical,” Niklarz said.

It should give the cemetery another 20 years’ worth of space.

“When I got the news, they were actually getting the land and expanding, I said ‘Hallelujah, I’m going to be some place,’ and I probably will in the new section,” Hart said.

One of the last aspects of getting the ground prepared for the next phase at the cemetery is they need to go at least seven feet deep for the burials.

Jessamine County donated the land, which will be ready sometime next year.

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