North Dakota Veterans Cemetery earns VA grant

Courtesy Photo | Frank K. Salvas Sr., director, Veterans Cemetery Grants Service for the VA presented a large ceremonial check to Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota National Guard adjutant general and Brig. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, deputy adjutant general, on Tuesday, Oct. 18, for more than $372,000, which will go to the North Dakota Veterans' Cemetery.  

MANDAN, NORTH DAKOTA, UNITED STATES

10.18.2011

Courtesy Story

North Dakota National Guard Public Affairs

MANDAN, N.D. - The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Cemetery Grants Program presented a grant Tuesday of more than $372,000 to the North Dakota Veterans' Cemetery. The grant funds will be used for projects that will realign and clean the gravestones and reestablish turf in areas worn down by traffic and damaged by construction. Frank K. Salvas Sr., director, Veterans Cemetery Grants Service for the VA presented a large ceremonial check to Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota National Guard adjutant general and Brig. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, deputy adjutant general.

"The time spent at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery was indeed inspiring for me," said Salvas during the check presentation. "I appreciated the opportunity to see this wonderful veterans cemetery, knowing that it is in good hands."

Public Law 110-157 authorized the VA to award veterans cemeteries grants to improve the appearance of burial areas. The North Dakota Veterans Cemetery is one four veterans cemeteries so far to receive a grant under this authority.

"We are appreciative of this grant and the important improvements that it will provide to these hallowed grounds," said Sprynczynatyk. "This beautiful facility is dedicated to our Veterans as a final salute for their selfless military service to our nation and state. Our fallen heroes deserve the best final resting area that we can possibly provide."

With improvements paid for by the grant already underway, the contractor is raising and realigning headstones. Next spring, they will use environmentally friendly methods to clean the headstones and improve the turf. This will assist the cemetery in meeting National Cemetery Administration's standards of appearance criteria and be recognized nationally as a shrine that honors and respects our Nation's Heroes.

The North Dakota Veteran's Cemetery was established by an act of the 1989 Legislative Assembly. The cemetery was opened in July 1992, and it is located 6.5 miles south of Mandan on Highway 1806 on a 35 acre tract of land in the southwest corner of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park.

Currently, there are more than 5,000 veterans and family members buried at the cemetery. The cemetery averages approximately 400 burials per year.

"You should be very proud of your first class facility," added Salvas. "When the next triennial review is conducted by the NCA, I believe your facility will be recognized as one of the elite Veterans cemeteries in the nation."

• Date Taken: 10.18.2011
• Date Posted: 10.21.2011 12:11
• Story ID: 78803
• Location: MANDAN, NORTH DAKOTA, US