Wakeeney ? As hundreds gathered for the groundbreaking of one of the state’s four new veterans cemeteries, speakers recalled those who gave their lives in America’s wars and those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Kansas Veterans Cemetery at WaKeeney is one of four federally funded cemeteries planned for each quadrant of the state. It will serve northwest Kansas.

Bill Jayne, director of the state cemeteries grants program for Veterans Affairs, said the local event was a perfect response to the president’s call for appropriate ceremonies and activities to commemorate the deadly attacks of a year earlier.

The 24-acre site along U.S. Highway 283 just north of Interstate 70 was chosen in August 1999. The cemetery is a partnership between the federal Department of Veterans Affairs and local and state leaders.

In his remarks, Jayne called veterans the state’s greatest patriots.

“Your precious freedoms are the product of this service,” Jayne said. “We strive to complete the work they have so nobly done.”

Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer presented a Kansas flag, which had flown over the state capitol earlier in the day, to veterans officials. The flag will hang at the cemetery when it opens.

“Our failure to support all of our veterans is not keeping the faith,” Sherrer said. “Providing burial places of honor and dignity is keeping the faith.”