AREA MAN FEARS FOR VETERANS' LAST HONOR.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

Larry Van Kuran is still bitter about how the United States didn't support the troops during and immediately after the Vietnam War.

Now he worries that when they die, they might be slighted once again.

The number of dying veterans and the lack of space at the few remaining Veterans Affairs Department cemeteries may keep Vietnam veterans from finding a final resting place among fellow patriots.

``We've got to start planning for death now because if we wait 10 or 15 years it'll definitely be too late, if it's not already too late,'' said Van Kuran, a 54-year-old Encino resident. ``There's a lot of anger toward the VA. I feel that they've let down the vets. That's not the government I thought I was fighting for.''

With the average age of the veterans rising and a growing number of war veterans dying, national cemeteries are filling up at an ever-increasing rate.

Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for interment at a national cemetery. But the need is quickly outpacing the available space.

By 2008, veterans will die at a rate of 1,700 per day, according to government estimates. A committee has identified several cities with an immediate need for additional burial grounds, but the VA has no construction plans for new cemeteries beyond this year.

``A veteran's funeral has become part of the honor system for us vets,'' said Van Kuran, who enlisted and served 18 months (1966-67) in Vietnam as part of the Army's elite First Infantry Division. ``I think we earned it.''

Since the establishment of national cemeteries in 1862, about 2.6 million veterans have been interred in national cemeteries and about 6.7 million headstones and markers have been furnished. In 1998, 76,718 veterans and family members were interred across the nation. The VA expects to bury 80,300 more vets and by 2004, the number of interments is expected to increase to 98,700.

Robert ``Mike'' Walker, the acting under-secretary for memorial affairs, is optimistic about the creation of future state and national cemeteries, but he is concerned about the length of time it takes from selecting a site to opening the cemetery, which could take seven years.

``That's way too long,'' Walker said. ``We're looking at ways of compressing the site selection process and building cemeteries. It is a complex process. But we have a goal, we are looking to provide a burial option for all veterans either in a state or a national cemetery within 75 miles of their home.''

In the past decade, the VA's National Cemetery Administration has built or started building new cemeteries in six areas identified in 1987 as most in need. But the NCA has not addressed how it will meet the increased demand for veteran burials over the next decade.

To counter these deficiencies, Congress last year passed a law requiring the Defense Department to provide military funeral honors for Air Force veterans. The law states that the DOD provide, at a minimum, a ceremonial flag-folding, flag presentation and the playing of taps at military funerals.

But base realignments and closures and force reductions have put military funeral details in overwhelming demand, especially in California, Texas and other states with high veteran populations.

Unable to meet the demand with their own honor guards, many bases have turned to patriotic volunteers, such as the All Veterans Burial Squad, based in the San Fernando Valley, which performs military ceremonies at cemeteries across the city for free.

``A group of about four to six volunteers perform a grave site burial for veterans,'' said Dick Fisher, a spokesman for Forest Lawn Mortuaries, which gets a handful of requests each month for military honors at its cemeteries.

Fisher said he tries to fulfill every request as a show of respect for soldiers like Van Kuran.

``I did what all the macho guys said they'd do,'' Van Kuran said. ``I did everything that our dads did. But society didn't support us.

``Nobody promised us a parade,'' he added, ``but these final military honors . . . should be there.''

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Photo:

Vietnam veteran Larry Van Kuran hopes his generation won't be shortchanged honors that the WWII veterans received.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer