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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 14, 2004

#### VA Breaks Ground at New Michigan Cemetery

> WASHINGTON \-- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi today
> presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Great Lakes
> National Cemetery in Holly, Mich.
>
> "This landmark event signifies the beginning of a new era of service
> to meet the burial needs of veterans in southeastern Michigan," said
> Principi. "Soon, veterans and their dependents in the Detroit area and
> beyond will have a national cemetery that reflects the honor their
> sacrifice justly deserves."
>
> National, state and local officials, veterans service organizations,
> and area veterans and their families attended the ceremony. In
> addition to Principi, other speakers included Michigan Senators Carl
> Levin and Debbie Stabenow and Representatives Joe Knollenberg, Dale
> Kildee, and Mike Rogers.
>
> Great Lakes National Cemetery is in Oakland County, approximately 45
> miles northwest of Detroit. When the cemetery becomes operational in
> mid-2005, it will serve nearly 460,000 veterans and their families who
> live within 75 miles of the site.
>
> When completed, the cemetery's 50-acre initial construction phase will
> contain 6,500 full-casket gravesites, consisting of 5,200 pre-placed
> crypts and 1,300 traditional full-casket gravesites, plus a 1,700-unit
> columbarium and 1,500 sites for in-ground cremated remains.
>
> The new cemetery will also include an administration and maintenance
> complex, two committal service shelters, public information center
> with electronic gravesite locator and public restrooms, cemetery
> entrance area, flag assembly area, memorial walkway and donations
> area, and infrastructure elements including roadways, landscaping,
> utilities and irrigation.
>
> **- More -**
>
> **Michigan Cemetery 2/2/2**
>
> Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and
> dependent children are eligible for burial in a national cemetery.
> Other burial benefits for eligible veterans include a burial flag, a
> Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker
> -- even if they are not buried in a national cemetery.
>
> VA, in the midst of its largest land expansion since the Civil War,
> operates 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, 33
> soldiers\' lots and monument sites. VA's national cemeteries have more
> than 14,200 acres of land. More than 2.5 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.
>
> VA also provides grants to states through its State Cemetery Grants
> Program to build new or expand existing state cemeteries that
> complement 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. Information about the
> Great Lakes National Cemetery is available at 810-695-2007.
>
> #   #   #
>
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>
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