Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery to add nearly 1,000 new burial spaces

A new expansion project at the Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery at Camp Navajo (AVMC-Camp Navajo) will add nearly 1,000 new burial spaces for Arizona veterans to be laid to rest.

The expansion project started in April due to increasing internments that would have caused the cemetery to reach capacity by January 2025. The project is expected to be finished next month.

“This expansion will allow us to inter more veterans here at the cemetery and utilize the grant provided by the National Cemetery Administration,” said AVMC-Camp Navajo Cemetery Administrator Judy Dillman. "It will also allow us to better serve veterans and their families of Northern Arizona.”

With this project, AVMC-Camp Navajo will add 595 in-ground urns and 340 burial crypts. Additional improvements as part of the expansion project will include additional sidewalks, benches, trashcans and landscaping. It will also include the creation of snow rails and gutters on the administration building and committal service shelter to help address water movement around the buildings.

As of 2022, the cemetery located at 14317 Veterans Drive in Bellemont, served more than 32,000 veterans and their eligible family members living within 75 miles of the cemetery, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.

The expansion was made possible through a nearly $2 million grant by the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program (VCGP), which is overseen by the VA’s National Cemetery Administration. It was awarded to AVMC-Camp Navajo in August 2023.

This is the second grant awarded to the cemetery. The previous grant allowed the cemetery to add four pre-cast columbarium walls, which added another 880 niche sites to the cemetery.

Since its inception in 1978, the VCGP has provided more than $959 million to establish, expand, improve, operate, and maintain 121 cemeteries in which veterans are currently interred.