Secretary Shinseki Announces $6 Million Grant to Kentucky

Commonwealth to Build Fourth State Veterans Cemetery 

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced Veterans living in northeastern Kentucky will soon have a final resting place that honors their service to the nation.  

“VA and the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs have a strong partnership and work together to provide Kentucky Veterans the benefits they earned,” Secretary Shinseki said.  “This new state cemetery will forever commemorate their service and sacrifice to our nation.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a $6,187,799 grant to establish the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Northeast in Greenup.  The grant covers 100 percent of the costs associated with building the cemetery.

The grant will fund construction of a committal shelter, pre-placed crypts, standard burial areas, a columbarium for cremation remains, in-ground cremation burial areas, a main entrance, roads, a maintenance facility, an assembly area and supporting infrastructure.  Interment areas will include approximately 3,000 standard burial sites, 1,200 pre-placed crypts, 882 in-ground cremation burial sites and 713 columbarium niches.

The cemetery will serve nearly 77,000 Kentucky Veterans and their families.  The nearest national cemetery is VA’s Camp Nelson National Cemetery in Nicholasville, approximately 160 miles away.  The nearest state cemetery is Kentucky Veterans Cemetery North in Williamstown, 159 miles away.  

The 75-acre site is in the northeastern part of the state.  The first phase of the project will develop approximately 18 acres.

VA’s State Cemetery Grants Program is designed to complement VA’s 130 national cemeteries across the country.  Since 1980, the program has awarded grants totaling more than $368 million to establish, expand or improve 74 Veterans cemeteries in 38 states and territories.  These state cemeteries provided nearly 25,000 burials in 2008.  

Kentucky residents who are Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Northeast.  For more information about Kentucky state Veterans cemeteries, contact the state Department of Veterans Affairs by phone at (800) 572-6245 or visit its Web site at http://veterans.ky.gov/cemeteries/.  

Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from VA’s Web site on the Internet at www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 800-827-1000.