Washington, D.C. — Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Togo D. West Jr. today announced the award of a $2.4 million grant to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to complete the establishment of a new state veterans’ cemetery in Agawam.
This is the second VA grant action this year for the facility near Springfield in central Massachusetts. In July, VA awarded $4.4 million.
The latest grant will provide 100 percent of the funding for the construction of an administrative building, committal facility and a maintenance building. The earlier grant paid for roads, bridges, drainage structures, a water distribution system, a columbarium structure and pre-placed graveliners, or crypts, for interments. About 39 of the site’s 61 acres will be developed after the latest round of improvements.
The cemetery will serve approximately 140,000 Massachusetts veterans and their families. The nearest national cemetery, Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, is approximately 120 miles away.
As a complement to VA’s system of national cemeteries, VA has helped to establish, expand or improve 41 operational state veterans’ cemeteries. The state veterans’ cemeteries provided 13,383 burials in fiscal year 1999. Four other cemeteries, including Agawam, are now under construction.
Since the program began in 1980, VA has awarded 99 grants to 23 states plus Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas for more than $66 million. In FY 1999, VA awarded six new grants for more than $6.9 million.
Specific information about the grants program is available by contacting VA’s State Cemetery Grants Service at (202) 565-6801. Eligibility for burial in a state veterans’ cemetery varies for each state. Details may be obtained by contacting the state’s agency for veterans’ affairs.
Information on VA burial benefits is available from national cemetery offices and VA regional offices at 1-800-827-1000, or from VA web sites on the Internet at http://www.va.gov or http://www.cem.va.gov.
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