Yurok Tribe Receives $3.3 Million for Vet Cemetery Grant
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:48 am
Yurok Tribe Receives $3.3 Million for Veterans Cemetery Grant
One of USDVA’s First Tribal Cemetery Grants Goes to California Tribe
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced that the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) has awarded the Yurok Tribe a grant of $3,318,990 to establish the Yurok Veterans Cemetery in Humboldt County.
“We are pleased that Yurok Tribe veterans have received this grant for building a cemetery where Native American veterans can be laid to rest using cultural ceremonies integral to burying one of our own, ” said Pete Molina, CalVet Assistant Secretary for Native American Veterans Affairs.
Public Law 109-461, signed into law Dec. 22, 2006, authorized the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make veterans cemetery grants available to tribal governments in the same manner as they are awarded to U. S. states and territories.
"This is one of the first Veterans Cemetery grants awarded to a Native American tribal government," said Secretary Shinseki. "We are proud of our continuing work with sovereign tribes to provide additional burial benefits where Veterans live."
This grant will fund the construction of a main entrance, roads, assembly area, committal shelter, casket gravesites, cremation gravesites, landscaping, memorial walkway and supporting infrastructure. Plans include environmental initiatives such as photovoltaic panels, composting toilets and rain water collection.
The cemetery will be approximately 11 miles west of Weitchpec, Calif., on approximately 20 acres of trust land adjacent to Bald Hills Road. The first phase of the project will develop approximately four acres. Construction will include 171 standard burial gravesites and 161 cremation gravesites.
The new cemetery will serve approximately 2,589 Yurok Tribe Veterans and their families. The closest national cemetery with available burial space is VA’s Eagle Point National Cemetery in Eagle Point, Ore., 175 miles away. The closest state Veterans Cemetery is Northern California Veterans Cemetery at Igo, approximately 125 miles away.
VA's Veterans Cemetery Grants Program is designed to complement VA’s 131 national cemeteries across the country. Since 1980, the program has awarded grants totaling more than $438 million to establish, expand or improve 81 Veterans cemeteries in 41 states or territories, including Guam and Saipan. These cemeteries provided nearly 28,000 burials in 2010.
Tribe members who are military Veterans with a qualifying discharge and have completed a period of active duty service as required by law, along with their spouses and eligible dependent children, may be buried in the Veterans cemetery. For more information, contact Sophia Lay at 707-482-1366.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 800-827-1000 or from the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov.
One of USDVA’s First Tribal Cemetery Grants Goes to California Tribe
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced that the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) has awarded the Yurok Tribe a grant of $3,318,990 to establish the Yurok Veterans Cemetery in Humboldt County.
“We are pleased that Yurok Tribe veterans have received this grant for building a cemetery where Native American veterans can be laid to rest using cultural ceremonies integral to burying one of our own, ” said Pete Molina, CalVet Assistant Secretary for Native American Veterans Affairs.
Public Law 109-461, signed into law Dec. 22, 2006, authorized the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make veterans cemetery grants available to tribal governments in the same manner as they are awarded to U. S. states and territories.
"This is one of the first Veterans Cemetery grants awarded to a Native American tribal government," said Secretary Shinseki. "We are proud of our continuing work with sovereign tribes to provide additional burial benefits where Veterans live."
This grant will fund the construction of a main entrance, roads, assembly area, committal shelter, casket gravesites, cremation gravesites, landscaping, memorial walkway and supporting infrastructure. Plans include environmental initiatives such as photovoltaic panels, composting toilets and rain water collection.
The cemetery will be approximately 11 miles west of Weitchpec, Calif., on approximately 20 acres of trust land adjacent to Bald Hills Road. The first phase of the project will develop approximately four acres. Construction will include 171 standard burial gravesites and 161 cremation gravesites.
The new cemetery will serve approximately 2,589 Yurok Tribe Veterans and their families. The closest national cemetery with available burial space is VA’s Eagle Point National Cemetery in Eagle Point, Ore., 175 miles away. The closest state Veterans Cemetery is Northern California Veterans Cemetery at Igo, approximately 125 miles away.
VA's Veterans Cemetery Grants Program is designed to complement VA’s 131 national cemeteries across the country. Since 1980, the program has awarded grants totaling more than $438 million to establish, expand or improve 81 Veterans cemeteries in 41 states or territories, including Guam and Saipan. These cemeteries provided nearly 28,000 burials in 2010.
Tribe members who are military Veterans with a qualifying discharge and have completed a period of active duty service as required by law, along with their spouses and eligible dependent children, may be buried in the Veterans cemetery. For more information, contact Sophia Lay at 707-482-1366.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 800-827-1000 or from the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov.