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Burlco cemetery making room for more veterans

Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) - 10/20/2014

Oct. 20--The gently rolling land at Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery is usually a quiet, contemplative place. Flags flap in the breeze, visitors kneel at graves with flowers, and a line of cars heads to graveside services.

But these days, the peace and serenity of the state-operated Burlington County cemetery is often broken by the sounds of heavy construction -- part of a federally funded $18 million, three-year-long improvement project making way for more burials.

In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and across the country, federal national cemeteries are filling up so fast -- especially with World War II and Korean War veterans -- that the government "has definitely looked to state cemeteries to supplement the space that's available," said Raymond L. Zawacki, deputy commissioner of veterans affairs for the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

"Building a new cemetery is more expensive [for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] than furnishing grants" to expand state veterans' cemeteries, he said.

The Doyle Cemetery now does "more burials a day than any one veterans' cemetery in the country," said Al Bucchi, director of veterans' services for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. "We do 20 or more, but during construction, we've capped the number at 13 a day."

The extra space at places such as the 225-acre Doyle Cemetery on Province Line Road in North Hanover Township is crucial.

The VA may have 131 national cemeteries in 40 states and Puerto Rico as well as 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites, but many of them no longer accept burials, officials said.

That includes the two in New Jersey. Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly is closed and Finn's Point National Cemetery in Pennsville is open only for cremated remains.

In Pennsylvania, only three of nine locations are open: Washington Crossing National Cemetery at Newtown, the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies at Bridgeville, and Indiantown Gap National Cemetery at Annville.

The story is the same across the nation.

So, the VA's Veterans Cemetery Grants Program has steadily stepped up funding each year to state cemeteries to create space. About $614 million has been provided since 1978.

"We have [an annual] budget of between $44 [million] to $46 million," said George Eisenbach, director of the program in Washington. "The states come to us and there's lot of competition" for the funding.

Awarding grants to state cemeteries "gives veterans and eligible family members another burial option," he said. "It's the right thing to do.

"We make sure no state or territory runs out of space," he added.

The need for burial space is clearly increasing. New Jersey had 425,000 veterans a year ago and about 408,000 as of Sept. 30 -- a drop of 17,000, federal statistics show.

Pennsylvania had nearly 954,000 a year ago and now has about 927,000 -- a decrease of 27,000 during the same period.

About 44,600 veterans are buried at the Doyle Cemetery along with 16,000 family members, officials said. About 3,000 burials are scheduled annually.

"Most definitely the pace has picked up," said Iven Dumas, superintendent of the cemetery and a retired Marine first sergeant.

Making space available for veterans at a time when so many are dying is a major challenge, Bucchi said. "We do not charge for the veteran, spouse, or dependent child.

"The burial is free and includes a crypt vault, the opening and closing of the grave, services at the chapel or commital shelter, and a flat granite headstone with a bronze marker," he said.

At the Doyle Cemetery at Arneytown, nearly $11 million was provided to build a columbarium with 4,800 niches for cremains, and nearly 11,000 double-depth concrete crypts for caskets, as well as a weather-shielded committal shelter, said Kryn Westhoven, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

An additional $3 million is being used to fund construction of a 2,000-square-foot public information center and several thousand feet of road along with a new main entrance, Westhoven said. The building will have restrooms, a grave locator, and office space for a funeral honor guard and coordination of funeral corteges.

At the same time, nearly $4 million more has been set aside for the realignment of markers and rehabilitation of 20,405 graves and an irrigation system and sod on 29 acres of burial grounds, Westhoven said. The work is expected to begin in November.

"I tell people the last thing a family will remember is the veteran's burial," said Bucchi.

"You have to make sure the honor and dignity is there so they can leave with a good feeling that their [veteran] was treated with respect," he said. "That's the final thank-you for their service," he said. "We owe them nothing but the best -- proper respect and honor."

At the Doyle Cemetery, "every day is Veterans Day," Dumas said.

ecolimore@phillynews.com

856-779-3833 InkyEBC

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