Nicholson: New cemetery will pay tribute to veterans’ service
WASHINGTON – Continuing its mission of providing a final resting place for Texas veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today the award of an $8 million grant to establish a state veterans cemetery in Abilene.
“This new cemetery will provide a final resting place that pays tribute to veterans’ service,” said the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.
Nearly 30,000 veterans and their families live within the service area of the future TexasStateVeteransCemetery in JonesCounty.
Construction is scheduled to begin this fall. The grant will fund construction of 2,300 full-casket burial sites, 600 in-ground burial cremation sites, 624 columbarium niches, a memorial walkway, administration and maintenance buildings, a committal service shelter, a storage building, utilities, landscaping and irrigation. Interments are expected to begin in spring 2009.
The closest national cemetery is Dallas-FortWorthNationalCemetery in Dallas, approximately 185 miles away. The nearest state cemetery is CentralTexasStateVeteransCemetery in Killeen, approximately 160 miles away.
VA’s State Cemetery Grants Program is designed to complement VA’s 125 national cemeteries across the country. This state cemetery grant program helps states establish, expand or improve existing cemeteries. The VA program has helped establish 67 state veterans cemeteries in 35 states, Saipan and Guam, which provided more than 22,000 burials in fiscal year 2006. Since the program began in 1980, VA has awarded 158 grants totaling $294 million.
Information on VA burial benefits is available 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. Information about Texas state veterans cemeteries is available from the Veterans Land Board at: http://www.TexasVeterans.com or (512) 463-5350.
