Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, state adjutant general, said the state is committing $300,000 for physical improvements to all eight of Hawai'i's veterans' cemeteries, while also moving to fill several vacant maintenance positions.

But he said the overall state budget for the cemeteries would not increase this year.

"The state, financially, is just coming out of the hole," Lee said. "We think the trickle-down effect will come to the veterans' office."

The new cash is welcomed by families and friends, some of whom complain that poor drainage and manpower shortages are routine at state cemeteries such as those in Kane'ohe and West Hawai'i.

Three other factors are increasing pressure on Hawai'i's cemeteries:

• At the federally financed National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl, all traditional gravesites are spoken for, putting pressure on state-run veterans cemeteries where casket burials are still possible.
• The number of burials is increasing, primarily because of the deaths of members of the World War II generation. Some 1,800 veterans a day are dying.
• Federal standards for upkeep have toughened.

While the state is responsible for maintaining its veterans' cemeteries, it can seek federal grants of up to 100 percent of the cost to establish, improve and expand them. When federal grant money does not cover the cost of operating a state cemetery, it is up to the state to make up the difference.

Veterans and their families have said the nation and state have an obligation to those who have served. They said that while they empathize with the financial challenges the state faces, veterans' cemeteries shouldn't be neglected.

"It's not right," said Robert Welter, a Korean War veteran who lives in Ocean View on the Big Island. "They ought to have somewhere better than a weed patch to lay and rest. People that have served their country ... to put them in the ground in a place like that is unbecoming."

While Lee agrees that veterans deserve better, he said the federal government should be doing more to support the states. He said the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration only provides about $300 per burial, which is about $450 shy of the total cost, and "we get zero from the federal government to maintain the cemeteries."

Of the 2,714 veterans' deaths in Hawai'i last year, state veterans' cemeteries interred 793 at a cost of $356,850 to the state.

Only Missouri and Massachusetts have gotten more than the $13.3 million Hawai'i has received over the years from the VA State Cemetery Grants Program, which includes $750,000 in 2003 to pay for an expansion and improvement of an East Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery.

Bill Jayne, director of the State Cemetery Grants Program, said Hawai'i soon would file a $1.2 million grant application for improvements to the water system and to build a committal shelter at West Hawai'i. Another $100,000 would be sought for grave liners.

Welter said it sounds like a lot of money, but the state spent $1.2 million to build the cemetery to begin with.

"I hope it is managed properly," he said. "It has just been neglected. There are a lot of sinking graves. Some have dropped eight inches."

Gloria Higbee-Henderson of Kailua faces similar problems at the Kane'ohe cemetery. Her father, Leonard Higbee, was buried there two years ago. She said she and her sister were forced to plant grass over her father's grave after six months had passed. Graves around her father's plot are infested with weeds. Many others have sunk up to a foot.

During Easter, she, her sister and mother went to visit her father's grave when two men smashed the window of her car to steal their purses. A struggle ensued. The getaway car dragged her sister. Her mother suffered a heart attack. Both were taken to a hospital and have recovered.

But Higbee-Henderson said they're afraid each time they return.

"It's to the point where we used to go every week to my father's gravesite," she said. "Now we make it every three weeks. Even talking about it I get emotional, but we are afraid."

Lee said he has asked local police to patrol the cemetery more often. Also, a study is being conducted to determine what needs to be done to keep graves from sinking. Lee said the state has discovered an underground stream beneath the Kane'ohe cemetery, and engineers are examining whether the stream could be diverted.

The state was investigating whether mistakes were made when the cemetery was built in 1991, and it is trying to determine the name of the contractor. Steps also are being taken to fill vacant maintenance positions.

In the meantime, maintenance workers are being shifted from National Guard armories to help keep up the grounds, and the state wants to increase the use of prison work crews to help out, said state Department of Defense public affairs officer Maj. Charles Anthony.

"They have been coming down every once in a while, giving us a 10-man team, doing pretty good work, taking care of grass, shrubs and that sort of thing," he said.