Courtesy image William E. "Bill" Christofferson, a World War II veteran and advocate for veterans.

The Salt Lake Veterans Home has a new name.

It is now the William E. Christofferson Salt Lake Veterans Home, named Friday for a World War II veteran who long has advocated for the state’s veterans.

Among those at a Friday morning ceremony marking the name change was James Koutz, national commander of the American Legion.

Christofferson, a native of Cache Valley, served in the Army, participating in several campaigns in the Philippines. Long involved in the American Legion, he is the senior member of its National Executive Committee.

He was one of the leading advocates who got the Utah Veterans Memorial Park built in Bluffdale decades ago, and he began working as early as 1966 to get a nursing home built. The 81-bed nursing home adjacent to the George E. Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center was finished in 1998.

Since then, the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs has built a nursing home in Ogden and is finishing two others in Ivins and Spanish Fork.

Kristen Moulton