Thirty-Five Acre Development to Provide Years of Service
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced an $11 million contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop the next phase of the Alabama National Cemetery, which opened for burials on June 25.
“VA made a commitment to provide burial benefits which the Veterans of Alabama have earned,” said Secretary Shinseki. “We are developing new burial areas and building permanent facilities at Alabama National Cemetery — and keeping our promise to them.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded the contract to C&C Contractors, LLC, a service-disabled, Veteran-owned small business from Notasulga, Ala. This phase of development will include 4,000 pre-placed crypts and 2,700 columbaria niches.
Infrastructure construction will include an administration and public information building, two committal service shelters, a public assembly area, a maintenance complex, utilities and an irrigation system. The project will also incorporate roads, signage, landscaping and site furnishings.
The 35-acre cemetery, 15 miles south of Birmingham, is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2011.
In the midst of the largest cemetery 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 – from the Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – are buried in VA’s national cemeteries on more than 18,000 acres.
Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children may be buried in a national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for eligible Veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a national 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 toll-free at 800-827-1000.
To make burial arrangements at the Alabama National Cemetery, call 800-535-1117. For information about the facility, contact the cemetery staff at (866) 547-5078.
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Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
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