WASHINGTON – Continuing its mission of providing a final resting place for Missouri veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced a $7,555,296 grant to establish a state veterans cemetery at Fort Leonard Wood, approximately 50 miles south of Jefferson City.
“By awarding this grant to Missouri, we are closer to making the state veterans cemetery at Fort Leonard Wood a reality,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. “The veterans in this part of the state have earned the right to a dignified burial in a cemetery that commemorates their service and sacrifice.”
The grant will pay 100 percent of the allowable costs to build the new 228-acre cemetery. In its initial 18-acre development, the cemetery will provide 4,893 full-casket gravesites, 1,412 in-ground cremation burial sites and 1,024 columbarium niches. The cemetery will serve more than 7,000 veterans and their family members who live in the area.
The grant will also cover the costs of cemetery infrastructure, including an administration and maintenance building, roads, utilities, landscaping and irrigation, a memorial walkway, an assembly area and a committal service shelter. Design costs and equipment to operate the cemetery are also funded.
The nearest VA national cemetery is JeffersonBarracksNationalCemetery in St. Louis, about 110 miles away.
VA’s State Cemetery Grants Program is designed to complement VA’s 125 national cemeteries across the country. The program helps states establish new state veterans cemeteries and expand or improve existing cemeteries. To date, the program has helped establish 72 state veterans cemeteries in 38 states and U.S. territories, which provided more than 23,000 burials in fiscal year 2007. Since the program began in 1980, VA has awarded 172 grants totaling $344 million.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the VA Web site on the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.
Information about Missouri state veterans cemeteries can be obtained at http://www.mvc.dps.mo.gov or by calling the Missouri Commission on Veterans Affairs at (573) 751-3779.
