Washington, D.C. – Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Togo D. West Jr. today announced the award of a $113,295 grant to the State of New Jersey to construct a memorial walkway and other improvements at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightsville, N.J.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) grant will pay 100 percent of the allowable costs of designing and building the walkway, to include grading and drainage as well as paths for the placement of memorials to military units.
The State Cemetery Grants Program has helped to establish, expand or improve 41 operational state veterans cemeteries. Since the program was established in 1980, VA has awarded 102 grants for more than $75 million to 24 states plus Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. In Fiscal Year 1999, six new grants were awarded totaling almost $7 million. The state veterans cemeteries provided 13,383 burials in FY 1999.
Specific information about the grants program is available by contacting VA's State Cemetery Grants Service at (202) 565-6801. Eligibility for burial in a state veterans' cemetery varies for each state. Details may be obtained by contacting the state's agency for veterans' affairs.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices or by calling VA regional offices toll-free on 1-800-827-1000, or from VA web sites on the Internet at http://www.va.gov or http://www.cem.va.gov.
