WASHINGTON — To expand burial capacity at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a Boston firm a design contract to develop another section of the cemetery.
“The expansion of Massachusetts National Cemetery will ensure the Veterans of this community continue to be honored for their military service,” Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Steve Muro said. “A grateful nation provides this beautiful cemetery as a lasting tribute to their sacrifice and memory.”
The contract for $1.4 million was awarded to Cubellis, Inc. The design documents will be completed in late 2010 or early 2011.
The 25-acre development is the third for the cemetery, which opened in 1980, and will provide another 10 years of burial spaces. It will include approximately 8,500 pre-placed crypts for casket burials, 1,000 in-ground cremation burial sites and 3,800 columbaria niches, also for cremation remains.
The project also will include a new administration building; a public information center with an electronic gravesite locator and public restrooms; a new maintenance building; renovation of existing maintenance structures; systems for water distribution, irrigation and utilities; and roads, signage and landscaping.
In the midst of the largest cemetery expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 128 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, are buried in VA’s national cemeteries.
Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for all eligible Veterans, whether buried in a national cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the Internet at www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices at 1-800-827-1000.
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Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.
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