WASHINGTON — Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi approved a $1.6 million grant to Nevada to expand the state-run Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Nev.
“This award, and an increasing number like it for state veterans’ cemeteries, recognizes the contributions of America‘s aging veterans,” said Principi. “I appreciate President Bush’s leadership in supporting state veterans’ cemeteries.”
The new expansion for the cemetery, which serves more than 170,000 veterans in southern Nevada, will provide more than 3,300 crypts and approximately 7,500 gravesites.
Other improvements will include an extension to the administration building, a parking lot, a maintenance shop, site lighting, an irrigation system and landscaping.
Established in 1990, the 79-acre cemetery is located about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas. The state also operates the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery 437 miles away in Fernley, Nev.
The nearest open VA-run national cemetery is Riverside National Cemetery, located approximately 254 miles away in Riverside, Calif.
The Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery provided 1,533 interments to veterans and family members last fiscal year. The state has received four VA grants totaling $3.6 million to establish and improve the cemetery.
As a complement to VA’s system of national cemeteries, the State Cemetery Grants Program has helped establish, expand or improve 55 operational state veterans cemeteries. States are responsible for operating their veterans’ cemeteries after VA assists with construction.
State veterans cemeteries provided 18,192 burials in fiscal year 2003. Since the program began in 1980, VA has awarded 136 grants for more than $197 million to 30 states and Guam.
Eligibility for burial in the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery is based on the same criteria as burial in a VA national cemetery, regardless of the state of residence. Details may be obtained by calling the cemetery at (702) 486-5920.
Information about the grants program is available by contacting VA’s State Cemetery Grants Service at (202) 565-6801.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from VA Web sites on the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov/, or by calling VA regional offices toll-free on 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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