WASHINGTON — Continuing its mission of providing a final resting place for Wisconsin veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced a $1.3 million grant to increase the capacity of the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Union Grove.
“This grant will ensure that burial of cremated remains is an option for Wisconsin’s veterans,” said Dr. James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “We are proud to partner with the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs to provide memorial services.”
The grant will fund a second 1,792-niche columbarium for cremated remains and infrastructure such as landscaping and irrigation.
VA’s State Cemetery Grants Program complements VA’s 125 national cemeteries across the country. The program helps states establish new state veterans cemeteries and expand or improve existing cemeteries. To date, the VA program has helped establish 72 state veterans cemeteries in 38 states and U.S. territories that provided more than 23,000 burials in fiscal year 2007. Since the program began in 1980, VA has awarded 172 grants totaling $344 million.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the VA Web site on the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.
Information about Wisconsin’s state veterans cemeteries is available by calling the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs at (800) 947-8387 or on the Internet at www://dva.state.wi.us/Cemeteries.asp.
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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.
Veterans can also use our chatbot to get information about VA benefits and services. The chatbot won’t connect you with a person, but it can show you where to go on VA.gov to find answers to some common questions.
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