> ![](media/image1.jpeg){width="6.433333333333334in" height="1.0in"}
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> February 23, 2007

# VA Awards \$10 Million Contract for Rock Island National Cemetery

# *Continues VA Commitment to Shrine-Like Tributes* 

> WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a
> construction contract for more than \$10 million to a Chicago
> contractor to expand the Rock Island, Ill., National Cemetery.
>
> "With this expansion, VA is continuing to keep our commitment to the
> men and women who have served our nation by providing a shrine-like
> final resting place for them and their families setting for many
> years," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.
>
> VA awarded the \$10.1 million contract to Veteran/Pacific Joint
> Venture, a minority-owned small business based in Chicago.
>
> The expansion project encompasses approximately 25 acres and will
> provide more than 7,000 gravesites, including casket gravesites,
> pre-placed crypts and a columbarium for cremation remains. It will
> also provide a new committal service shelter, an assembly area, public
> restrooms, an information building, a maintenance area, and additions
> and renovations to the administration building. New and renovated
> infrastructure features for water distribution, roads and utilities
> are included. VA expects to begin construction within approximately
> one month and to be completed by late 2008.
>
> The expansion will permit burials for veterans and eligible family
> members to continue at Rock Island National Cemetery for at least the
> next decade.
>
> Illinois' other six national cemeteries are Abraham Lincoln near
> Chicago; Danville; Camp Butler in Springfield; Mound City; Quincy; and
> Alton. Abraham Lincoln, Danville, Camp Butler and Mound City national
> cemeteries have space available for casketed and cremated remains.
> Alton has space available for cremated remains and can accommodate
> casketed remains in the gravesites of previously interred family
> members. Quincy is closed to new interments, but can bury family
> members in existing gravesites.
>
> **- More -**
>
> **Rock Island National Cemetery Expansion 2/2/2**
>
> In the midst of the largest cemetery expansion since the Civil War to
> care for the aging veterans population, VA operates 124 national
> cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers\' lots and
> monument sites. More than three million Americans, including veterans
> of every war and conflict, are buried in VA national cemeteries.
>
> Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and
> eligible dependent children can be buried in a national cemetery.
> Other burial benefits available for all eligible veterans, regardless
> of whether they are buried in a national or private cemetery, include
> a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate, and a government
> headstone or marker.
>
> Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national
> cemetery offices, from the Internet at
> [http://www.cem.va.gov,]{.underline} or by calling VA regional offices
> toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.
>
> For information on the Rock Island National Cemetery, call the
> cemetery office at (309) 782-2094.
>
> #   #   #