Veterans cemetery awarded $5 million
By KERRI REMPP, Record staff writer Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Military veterans in the Panhandle could have a regional cemetery as early as 2010 now that funding has been secured. The High Plains Veterans Cemetery near Alliance will receive a nearly $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The grant was awarded to the State of Nebraska last week to construct the cemetery.
“A new state veterans cemetery in western Nebraska will greatly expand the opportunity for veterans to be buried in a place that commemorates their sacrifice,” said Dr. James Peake, secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The 21-acre cemetery will be developed in phases, each designed to accommodate 10 years of burials and serve 6,000 veterans and eligible dependents in western Nebraska. The first phase includes a 12-acre development that will provide 1,372 full-casket sites and 1,177 in-ground cremation sites. The grant will provide 100 percent of the funding for construction of the burial areas and supporting infrastructure, including roads, utilities, landscaping and irrigation. The grant also includes design and construction administration costs. Over $2 million will be released immediately to begin construction.
Dan Kusek, the chairman of the task force spearheading the project, is immensely pleased with the news, adding that plans immediately got under way to move forward. A groundbreaking ceremony for the cemetery will be Oct. 10 at 11 a.m. at the site of the High Plains Veterans Cemetery near the Alliance Airport. Fuller Construction Company of Chadron will serve as the general contractor for the project.
“We are proud to have been chosen to build this resting place to honor America’s veterans,” said Eric Fuller, the company’s general manager.
The idea for a veterans cemetery in western Nebraska was first proposed to the Alliance City Council in the early 1990s by the late Pat and Olivia Dillon. The intervening years have been filled with behind-the-scenes work to raise funds and garner support for needed legislation to make the project possible. The Unicameral finally passed legislation in 2006 to create the Nebraska Veterans Cemetery System, and a task force has been working on fund-raising for several years.
The City of Alliance donated 80 acres of airport ground for the cemetery, which was a 1940s military training base. Once the first 20 acres have been developed, the remaining 60 acres will serve as a buffer zone for future expansion. The task force has also received approximately $110,000 in cash donations. The first $75,000 was sent to the state as matching funds to obtain the VA grant. The remainder will likely be used for maintenance and operation costs, Kusek said, but the task force board will have to determine that for sure at a later date.
“The news from Washington is good news indeed,” said Senator LeRoy Louden. “Western Nebraskans, particularly the residents and local officials of Box Butte County and Alliance, stepped up and showed that they can raise the money required for the construction grant.”
There is only one other state veterans cemetery in Nebraska n the Nebraska Veterans Home Cemetery at Grand Island, though it did not receive funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. There are also two national veterans cemeteries in the state - Fort McPherson National Cemetery near Maxwell and Forest Lawn Cemetery Soldier’s Lot at Omaha.
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