WASHINGTON – Veterans and their families in South Carolina are closer to having access to burial in a veterans cemetery with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announcement of a preferred site for a national cemetery near Columbia. A 600-acre tract of land to be transferred from Fort Jackson Army Installation has been selected by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.
“Providing a national cemetery for veterans in South Carolina is a priority for VA," said Nicholson. “This national shrine will honor the military service of thousands of men and women for many years to come.”
Nearly 1,900 veterans die each day, with about half of them World War II veterans. To ensure these veterans can be buried in cemeteries that meet the high standards of national shrines, the VA-administered national cemetery system is undergoing its largest expansion since the Civil War.
The FortJackson property is east of Columbia and south of Interstate Highway 20. The Columbia architectural and engineering firm Davis & Floyd was awarded the design contract. VA anticipates that design will begin in 2007 and burials could start by January 2009. Approximately 170,000 veterans live within 75 miles of Columbia-Greenville.
VA operates 124 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites. More than three million Americans, including veterans of every war and conflict — from the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terror — are buried in VA’s national cemeteries on more than 16,000 acres of land.
Veterans whose discharges are other than dishonorable, their spouses and dependent children may be buried in a national cemetery, regardless of where they live. No advance reservations are made. Other burial benefits for eligible veterans include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker – even if they are not buried in a national cemetery.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from a VA Web site at www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.
