Continues Commitment to Honor Veterans Service
WASHINGTON – Continuing its mission of providing a final resting place for Wisconsin veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the award of a $622,580 grant to the state to expand the Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spooner.
“With the expansion of this state veterans cemetery, VA ensures that memorial benefits for Wisconsin veterans will be available for many more years,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.
The grant will pay for the construction of 460 full-casket burial sites, 444 in-ground cremation burial sites, 704 columbarium niches, a memorial walkway, a storage building, utilities, landscaping and irrigation.
The Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, which began interments in 2000, was also developed through VA’s State Cemetery Grants Program. VA funded two other state veterans cemeteries in Wisconsin: the Central Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in King, and the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Union Grove.
VA’s State Cemetery Grants Program complements VA’s 125 national cemeteries across the country. The program helps states establish, expand or improve state veterans cemeteries. To date, the VA state cemetery program has helped establish 66 veterans cemeteries in 35 states, Saipan and Guam, which provided more than 22,000 burials in 2006. Since the program began in 1980, VA has awarded 154 grants totaling more than $276 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 veterans cemeteries can be obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs at ** http://dva.state.wi.us/Cemeteries.asp ** or 608-261-0179.
** Indicates a link to a non- Department of Veterans Affairs Website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked website.
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Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
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