WASHINGTON — Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi today announced the award of a $5.9-million grant to the State of Colorado for the establishment of a new state veterans cemetery. Located in Grand Junction, it will be called the Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Western Colorado.
The new cemetery will be on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains at the confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers. Approximately 250 miles west of Denver, it will serve more than 30,000 veterans who live within 75 miles of the site.
This project calls for the development of approximately 20 acres on state property along D Road just outside the city limits of Grand Junction.
Construction will include an administration building, committal shelter, entry feature and assembly area. An irrigation ditch passing across the property will become a landscaped stream that can be used for irrigation.
Phase one of the project involves 1,720 full-casket burial sites, including 1,185 pre-placed graveliners, or crypts, 861 columbarium niches and 870 garden niches for cremated remains.
As a complement to VA’s system of national cemeteries, the State Cemetery Grants Program has helped to establish, expand or improve 47 operational state-run veterans cemeteries. Seven additional cemeteries, including Grand Junction, are now under construction.
State veterans cemeteries provided 14,355 burials in fiscal year 2000. Since the program began in 1980, VA has awarded 107 grants to 27 states plus Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas for more than $95 million.
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 can be obtained from national cemetery offices or by calling VA regional offices toll-free on 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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Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.
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