North Dakota Receives Grant To Expand State Veterans Cemetery
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that a grant was awarded to North Dakota for up to $1,860,775. The funds announced today are planned for expansion and improvements at the Veterans Cemetery in Mandan. Click here to read the release. The allocated funds will be used to build 1,440 columbarium niches or walls that will hold cremated remains' ashes.
Since its establishment in 1992, the cemetery has offered interment services to veterans who have received an honorable discharge and their families. With a 14-acre footprint, the cemetery can accommodate approximately 10,000 burials. The cemetery offers a range of services, such as traditional casket burials, cremation burials, and burying cremated remains on the earth. The American flag is folded, presented, and Taps is played as part of the cemetery's military honors program for veterans.
Veterans must have gotten an honorable discharge from the service in order to be eligible for burial at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. Children with dependent parents and spouses may also be eligible for burial—veterans and their spouses who qualify for free burial services at the cemetery. More burial options for North Dakota veterans and qualifying family members will be supported by the funding, which will also be used for infrastructure construction and landscaping on a one-acre plot of land.
Since its inception in 1978, the VCGP has funded the establishment, expansion, improvement, operation, and maintenance of 122 cemeteries. In the fiscal year 2022, these cemeteries conducted more than 47,000 burials.
If you would like more information about the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, contact Pamela Helbling-Schafer, Director, North Dakota Office of Adjutant General, at 701-667-1418 or email pamela.s.helbling-schafer.nfg@army.mil.