The cemetery refused to allow the family to bury Hazel and Victor in the chosen spot, citing cemetery policy that did not allow Asians to be buried "in the White section." After a lengthy battle, the Lee family prevailed. Hazel Lee was laid to rest in a non-military funeral and buried alongside her brother on a sloping hill in River View Cemetery, overlooking the Willamette River.
The cemetery refused to permit the Lee family to bury Hazel and Victor in their preferred location because of a rule that barred Asians from being buried "in the White section."