The grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration will be used to expand the Vermont Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center, Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Thursday.
“As Vermonters, we’re incredibly proud to honor those who have served our state and country,” Shumlin said in a news release. “This grant will enhance our ability to do that and ensure we are able to remember and memorialize the sacrifices made by so many Vermonters.”
The expansion project has been in the works for about four or five years, said Robert Burke, Director of the Vermont Office of Veterans Affairs. The Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services will manage the project, and construction will begin in early August.
A major goal of the project will be to increase the cemetery’s capacity. The grant will fund the addition of 1,640 burial plots, including 410 pre-placed crypts for in-ground casket burials, 390 in-ground cremains plots and 840 columbarium niches to hold ashes, the news release said.
Between burials completed and plots already reserved, the cemetery would be full in about three years without the expansion, Burke said. The grant allow the cemetery to continue providing service for roughly 52,000 veterans and their families, according to the release.
The grant will also make make the cemetery more accessible to visitors. Planned improvements include the construction of a main entrance, a public information center, a maintenance facility, landscaping, a memorial walkway and supporting infrastructure. A new road system will also be built to more directly connect visitors to the chapel and allow a secondary exit from the site, the release said.
“This is the successful end of a great deal of hard work over the last few years in order to ensure Vermont veterans continue to have a dedicated final resting place,” Burke said. “One that they earned and deserve.”