WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi announced today the award of a $6.3 million contract for expansion of the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Wash.
“The addition of more burial sites will ensure that Tahoma National Cemetery continues to meet the burial needs of veterans now and well into the future,” said Principi.
The project calls for the addition of 12,000 columbarium niches for cremations and 4,000 pre-placed crypts for casket burial sites.
In addition to the expanded burial spaces, the new project includes an additional committal shelter and infrastructure improvements to the front gate and road system.
The contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was awarded to Prospect Construction, Inc., of Auburn, Wash., and construction is planned for completion in early 2006.
In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, 33 soldiers’ lots and monument sites. More than three million Americans – including veterans of every war and conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the current war in Iraq – are buried in VA’s national cemeteries.
VA also provides grants to states to build new state veterans cemeteries or to expand existing state facilities to complement national cemeteries.
Other VA burial benefits for eligible veterans include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government-furnished headstone or marker – even if the veteran is not buried in a national or state veterans cemetery.
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