Sixty-Eight Acre Development Provides Eight Years of Service
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced an $11.8 million contract to develop the next phase of the Jacksonville National Cemetery, which opened for burials in January 2009.
“VA is committed to providing the benefits that the Veterans of northern Florida and southern Georgia have earned,” said Secretary Shinseki. “By developing new burial areas and building permanent facilities at Jacksonville National Cemetery, we are keeping the promise we made to them.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded the contract to E&E Enterprises Global, a service-disabled, Veteran-owned small business from Hampton, Va. The contract calls for the creation of 13,600 gravesites, including pre-placed crypts, in-ground cremain sites, columbaria niches and a memorial wall.
Infrastructure construction will include an administration and public information building, a maintenance complex, two committal service shelters, a public assembly area, utilities and an irrigation system. The project will also incorporate roads, signage, landscaping and site furnishings.
This 68-acre development is expected to provide an estimated eight years of burial benefits for Veterans and their families. The project 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 Jacksonville National Cemetery, call 800-535-1117. For information about the facility, contact the cemetery staff at (904) 766-5222.
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