St. James Parks and Recreation is seeking the community’s help with identifying veterans buried in St. James Cemetery and Old St. James Cemetery. The effort is part of the Veterans Memorial Project, which will honor St. James veterans with a monument featuring their names.

Parks and Recreation Director Kristy Rich has spearheaded the project. She’s spent the last several months scouring obituaries, cemetery records and ancestry websites in her free time with a goal of creating a complete list of all St. James veterans buried in the two cemeteries.

“I’ve always had a passion towards our veterans,” Rich said. “It was just how I felt that I could give back to those that gave their lives or served in the military.”

Although she’s gathered a lot of information, there are still veterans missing from her list. She’s asking the community to review her list of names and contact her with information about loved ones who may have been left off.

Lists are categorized by the conflict each veteran served in: the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Spanish-American War, the Korean War, the Persian Gulf War and the Indian Wars.

There is also a list titled “Other Veterans,” which community members should review to see if they can provide information on which conflict their relative served in.

Old St. James Cemetery has been especially time consuming to research. So far, Rich has identified four Civil War veterans buried there, but still has gaps to fill.

“That little cemetery got vandalized back in the 70s, and it’s just in really rough shape,” she said. “There really wasn’t an extensive database of burials for it.”

Rich has seen a high level of community response to the project so far and has already made several additions in her first week of putting the lists out to the public.

The memorial monument will go near the entrance to St. James Cemetery, with benches nearby for reflection. The completed list of the names of each veteran buried at the two cemeteries will be engraved on the back with space to add more names as living veterans pass on.

“It makes my heart happy knowing that we’ve moved forward with this already,” she said.

The lists can be viewed on the St. James Parks and Recreation Facebook page, or by going to the city’s website, stjamesmo.org, clicking on Parks & Recreation under the departments tab, and clicking on the left sidebar for St. James Cemetery.

Anyone who doesn’t want to access the lists online is welcome to stop by Rich’s office at City Hall to view them.

Rich has also been helping community members get free military markers from the VA for their loved ones who served. 

If you have an addition or correction to the lists, or would like help obtaining a military marker, call 573-699-8026 or email krich@stjamesmo.org.

The monument will be funded entirely by donations. Friends of the Cemetery is planning a fundraiser for this summer and anyone interested in donating can contact Rich or Diana Fuhring at 573-265-1448.