WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has named the new national cemetery in the Atlanta area the “GeorgiaNationalCemetery.”
The 775-acre site is located in CherokeeCounty approximately 40 miles north of Atlanta. Nearly 400,000 veterans and their families live within 75 miles of the site.
“Naming this wonderful new facility the GeorgiaNationalCemetery emphasizes its status as an enduring shrine for the veterans of the entire state,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.
The name was recommended by local residents and approved by Principi.
Currently there are no open national cemeteries in Georgia. The two closest open VA national cemeteries are ChattanoogaNationalCemetery, 118 miles away in Tennessee, and FortMitchellNationalCemetery, 130 miles away in Alabama.
The 110-acre initial construction phase calls for 17,200 full-casket gravesites, 12,000 pre-placed crypts, a 3,000-unit columbarium, 765 sites for in-ground cremated remains and a scattering garden for cremated remains. The plan also includes construction of an administration and maintenance complex, three committal service shelters, a public information center with electronic gravesite locator and public restrooms, a cemetery entrance area, flag assembly area, memorial walkway and donations area and infrastructure elements including roadways, landscaping, utilities and irrigation.
Construction is estimated to begin in late 2004 and burials are expected to begin by late 2005 in an initial burial area. This burial section, separate from the overall construction project, allows for burials to begin during construction of the cemetery. The cemetery staff will conduct initial operations from a temporary office, committal service shelter and equipment shed until the construction is completed.
Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a national cemetery. Other burial benefits include a burial flag, Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker – even if they are not buried in a national cemetery.
VA, now in the midst of the largest cemetery expansion since the Civil War, operates 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites. More than 2.5 million Americans, including veterans of every war and conflict — from the Revolutionary War to the current war against terrorism — are buried in VA’s national cemeteries on more than 14,200 acres of land.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.
