Georgia receives grants to expand state veteran memorial cemeteries

The Georgia Department of Veterans Service was recently awarded more than $8 million in grants for the expansion of the state’s two veterans memorial cemeteries in Glennville and Milledgeville.

Grant funds will be used to plan, prepare and develop cemetery grounds to serve veterans and their families for the next 10 years. Both cemeteries will see enhancements to roadways, landscaping, irrigation and supporting infrastructure as well as the placement of the Space Force emblem in the ceremonial area.

This is the first major expansion of the Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery (GVMC) in Glennville, which opened in November 2007. The GVMC-Glennville received a total grant of $3,051,480 from the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop approximately 2 acres and add 920 pre-placed crypts.

The 42.6-acre cemetery has a potential capacity to provide a final resting place to more than 40,000 veterans and their eligible family members.

As of Aug. 31, 2024, there are 2,580 veterans, spouses and eligible dependents buried at GVMC-Glennville. Burials are composed of 1,662 casketed burials, 530 cremations in the columbarium, 380 inground cremations and 8 memorial markers.

The GVMC-Milledgeville will use its grant funds to continue the grounds’ next major expansion from the facility’s master plan. The cemetery was last expanded in 2011 and 2018. This expansion will use grant funds of $5,135,900 to develop approximately 5 acres, add 1,680 pre-placed crypts and 548 inground burial spaces.

GVMC-Milledgeville, which opened in 2001, is a 142-acre cemetery with the potential capacity to hold more than 100,000 veterans and their eligible dependents when fully constructed.

As of this past Aug. 31, there are 5,579 veterans, spouses and eligible dependents buried at GVMC-Milledgeville. The burials are composed of 3,673 casketed burials, 1,111 cremations in the columbarium, 764 inground cremations, and 31 burial markers.