WASHINGTON — Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced a $10 million contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to expand the Leavenworth National Cemetery in Leavenworth, Kan.
“With the expansion of this cemetery, Veterans in the greater Kansas City area will continue to receive full burial benefits from VA,” said Secretary Shinseki. “We are keeping our commitment by providing a lasting tribute to the men and women who have served our nation and their families for many years to come.”
The contract valued at $10,187,903 was awarded to Zieson Construction Co., LLC, a service-disabled, Veteran-owned small business from Topeka, Kan. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2011.
This project will develop 36 acres of excess property belonging to the adjacent Leavenworth VA Medical Center, providing approximately 14,000 additional gravesites at the 123-year-old cemetery. The new phase will include pre-placed double-depth crypt gravesites, traditional gravesites, a columbarium and in-ground cremation sites as well as a committal shelter, water distribution systems, roads, utilities, signs and landscaping.
Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a VA national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for all eligible Veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a national cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker. Families of eligible decedents may also order a memorial headstone or marker when remains are not available for interment.
In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 130 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers’ lots and monument sites. More than 3 million Americans, including Veterans of every war and conflict, are buried in VA’s national cemeteries on more than 18,000 acres of land.
For information about the Leavenworth National Cemetery, call the cemetery office at (913) 758-4105.
Information about VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the Internet at www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at (800) 827-1000.
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