Money, Military Retirement - Air Force Times

U.S. Military (Ret.): After you’re gone

About a year ago, I wrote about a topic that doesn’t make for great conversation around the dinner table, but is something all retirees need to think about and plan for — your funeral and burial wishes.

It’s an unfortunate fact that as the World War II and Korean War generations pass away at an accelerating rate, burial space has been dwindling in Veterans Affairs Department national cemeteries.

The National Cemetery Act of 2003 authorized VA to build new facilities to serve veterans in the areas of Bakersfield, Calif.; Birmingham, Ala.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sarasota County, Fla.; southeastern Pennsylvania; and Columbia-Greenville, S.C.

All the cemeteries except the one in Pennsylvania opened for interments this year, and the Pennsylvania facility is on track to open soon for its first burials. When completed, the new Washington Crossing National Cemetery near Philadelphia will cover 205 acres and provide burials for 40 to 50 years, VA officials said.

Also in August, VA awarded a $1.8 million grant to the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Sussex to expand its facility by several thousand burial spaces, and an $8.8 million contract to establish the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake, which will have 6,900 burial spaces when completed.

VA maintains 130 national cemeteries in 39 states. There are 54 state-run cemeteries for veterans. The only Defense Department cemetery, operated by the Army, is Virgimia’s Arlington National Cemetery. VA’s recent efforts mark the largest expansion of the national cemetery system since the Civil War. The funding aims to increase VA’s interment capacity by 85 percent and explore options to establish burial grounds within 75 miles of the country’s largest concentrations of veterans.

If you think you would like to be buried in a veterans cemetery, one of the most important things to know is that unlike a commercial plan — where you purchase your plot in advance — you cannot reserve a plot in a national cemetery.

But VA employees will help you with planning and will answer any questions. As with other benefits, retirees need to ensure that their families have the required paperwork in hand to quickly move the process forward.

A variety of burial and funeral benefits and allowances are available to those being interred in veterans cemeteries.

To confirm your eligibility and get more information, call a VA counselor toll free at 800-827-1000 or go online to www.cem.va.gov/cems/listcem.asp.

More information on burial and memorial benefits is also at www.cem.va.gov/index.asp.

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Retired Command Master Chief Alex Keenan served 28 years in the Coast Guard. E-mail him at retired@atpco.com.