Many servicemembers change duty stations often enough that "home" stops being where they came from. The places where they grew up or made a life for themselves before joining the military get further and further away, and "home" becomes their last duty station before getting out of the military. Sometimes, "home" is simply where they're put to rest after giving their lives to our country. For many fallen and late servicemembers, "home" becomes Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood, Washington.

"Mountain View is a source of community within the community," said Mountain View general manager Clarke Thomson. "Thousands of veterans are buried here. We have five different gardens dedicated to the veterans in the area. A lot of times, veterans choose to be buried here because the location is close to home, or it is home for a lot of people. It provides a place of honor for families to lay their loved ones."

Mountain View Funeral Home, Memorial Park and Crematory has been providing funeral and burial services to servicemembers, their families, and the larger Joint Base Lewis-McChord community for over 100 years. It opened in 1915 under James Richard Thompson, and served as a simple community cemetery until Thompson's son, J. Arthur Thompson, added a funeral home to the grounds in 1942. Thompson's grandson, Brewer B. Thompson, took over Mountain View in 1956. Under his leadership, Mountain View acquired 80 acres for a memorial park, the staff grew to 68 employees, and a second chapel was built on the site. "In the past, we had historical tours at the cemetery," added Thomson.

In keeping with tradition, the funeral home was passed down to Brewer Thompson's daughter, Cindy Thompson, in 1996, before North Star Memorial Group acquired it in 2000. Nowadays, Mountain View sits on 160 acres of land. Over 100,000 burials have taken place there, and each year, over 1,400 families utilize Mountain View's services. "We try to reach out and help families in every way," said Thomson.

In total, the Mountain View complex has five burial sections set aside for veterans, and it offers complimentary burial spaces for those honorably discharged from the military. "We get a wide range of military veterans here at Mountain View," Thomson continued. "And we have monuments there to recognize different branches of the military." A veteran's memorial on the grounds, which includes a Garden of Honor, holds monuments to Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Supreme Allied Commander from 1993-1997, and Army Sgt. Llewellyn Chilson, the second highest decorated enlisted soldier in World War II.

In addition to offering extensive funeral services such as ceremonies, receptions, catering, crematory services, green burials, personalized memorials, and grief support and recovery services, Mountain View holds community events each year. "It's always been important to Mountain View to reach out to the community. We're involved with many different organizations and we've been supporting the Rotary for decades. We support the Lakewood Rotary, the Parkland Rotary, and we're heavily involved in the Sons of Italy." Mountain View also hosts quarterly training for local first responder's honor guard teams and is scheduled to host West Pierce Fire & Rescue Trench Training in June.

Annual memorial ceremonies at Mountain View include a Joint Services Memorial Day Ceremony every Memorial Day weekend, Pierce County Law Enforcement Memorial Services and Mother's and Father's Day remembrance ceremonies. "We also have a program in December, which is a service of remembrance," said Thomson. "We invite people of the community to come out and remember those people in their lives who've been important and who've passed away."