WASHINGTON – To provide Maryland veterans with a final resting place that honors their service to the nation, the Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the award of a $4,448,885 grant to expand the Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery in Garrison Forest.
“With the expansion of this state cemetery, VA ensures that memorial benefits for Maryland veterans will be available for many more years,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. “We are proud to partner with Maryland to honor the service of the state’s veterans.”
The VA grant will fund development of burial space that includes full-casket and in-ground cremation sites as well as columbaria structures for cremation remains. The construction will also provide roads, irrigation, landscaping and infrastructure.
The project will ensure continued service to more than 150,000 state veterans and their families. The nearest national cemetery with available grave space is VA’s Quantico National Cemetery in Virginia, approximately 95 miles away. The nearest state cemetery, at Crownsville, is about 64 miles away.
VA’s State Cemetery Grants Program is designed to complement VA’s 125 national cemeteries across the country. VA state cemetery grants have helped establish, expand or improve state veterans cemeteries since 1980. To date, the program has helped establish 72 state veterans cemeteries in 38 states and U.S. territories, including all five of Maryland’s state veterans cemeteries. Nationwide, state cemeteries provided more than 23,000 burials in 2007. Since the program began, VA has awarded 172 grants totaling more than $344 million.
The Garrison Forest cemetery is the most active of Maryland’s five state veterans cemeteries, with more than 1,200 burials a year.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the VA Web site at www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.
Information about Maryland state veterans cemeteries can be obtained at www.mdva.state.md.us/burial.html.
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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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