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State cemetery
opening in Idaho
marks VA milestone
WASHINGTON (Nov. 24, 2004) - In the midst of the largest expansion
of the
veterans cemetery system since the Civil War, Idaho has added a
landmark
event by opening a state veterans cemetery in Boise. The state was
the only
one that did not have a veterans cemetery. It gave up that
distinction on Nov. 16 with the aid of a Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) grant of $8.2
million for construction.
There is now an operational national or state veterans cemetery in
every state of the union, as well as Puerto Rico and Guam.
"This new state veterans cemetery means that Idaho veterans no
longer have
to go out of state to receive the burial benefits promised to them
by a
grateful nation," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J.
Principi.
The VA grant to building the cemetery was awarded in 2002. A
dedication
ceremony occurred July 31, 2004, before construction was finished.
The
initial construction plan calls for development of 30 acres of the
77-acre
site and includes a total of 8,640 gravesites. That includes 2,930
traditional casket gravesites, 2,226 pre-placed crypts, 2,204
in-ground
cremation niches and 1,280 columbarium niches. Other elements
include a
committal service shelter, an administration and maintenance
building and an
assembly area.
Approximately 122,000 veterans reside in Idaho. Before the state
opened its
cemetery, the closest open national cemetery for local veterans was
Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Ore., about 425 miles
northwest of
Boise.
One burial took place while the new cemetery was under construction.
Governor Dick Kempthorne gave special approval to inter Army
Specialist
Brandon Titus, a Boise resident who was killed by a roadside bomb in
Baghdad, Iraq.
VA's State Cemetery Grants Program complements VA's national
cemeteries.
The grants have helped establish, expand or improve 57 state
veterans
cemeteries that provided more than 19,000 burials in fiscal year
2004. Five
additional state cemeteries are under construction. Since the
program began
in 1980, VA has awarded 137 grants of more than $209 million to 32
states
and Guam.
Information about the grants program is available by contacting VA's
State
Cemetery Grants Service at (202) 565-6801 or visiting its website at
http://www.cem.va.gov/grants.htm <http://www.cem.va.gov/grants.htm>
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Eligibility for burial in the Idaho States Veterans Cemetery is
based on the
same criteria as burial in a VA national cemetery. More details may
be
obtained by calling the Idaho Department of Veterans Affairs at
(208)
334-4796.
VA operates 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, 33
soldiers' lots and monument sites. More than three million
Americans,
including veterans of every war and conflict - from the
Revolutionary War to
the current war in Iraq - are buried in VA's national cemeteries.
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
<http://www.cem.va.gov>
or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at
1-800-827-1000.
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