Helena Independent Record: State gets $2.7M grant to expand veterans cemetery at Fort Harrison, VA says

The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration said Thursday it has awarded a grant of up to $2,777,421 to the state of Montana to expand the Montana State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Harrison.

The VA also said it will reimburse the state $349,911 for the cost of fabrication and delivery of outer burial receptacles used for the project.

The grant will fund 300 pre-placed crypts, 880 columbarium niches, 500 cremains gravesites, landscaping and irrigation, VA officials said in a news release.

The funds will come from the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program, which the VA oversees.

“We are proud to support the State of Montana with this expansion grant,” Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ronald E. Walters said in an email.

The grant was requested by the state of Montana in 2016 by the Montana Department of Veterans Affairs, federal officials said. The project is managed by the state and not the VA.

He said the cemetery serves more than 22,000 veterans and eligible family members in the region “and we look forward to our continued partnership in providing burial access.”

Matt Manning, cemetery bureau chief for the veterans affairs division of Montana Department of Military Affairs, said the cemetery was in need of an upgrade.

“I am glad we are getting it and it will put the cemetery on same playing field” as the state veteran cemeteries in Miles City and Missoula, he said.

“It was much needed,” Manning said, adding the plan includes improvements to the plaza.

He said the state had requested $2 million and the federal government bumped up the funding to $2.7 million.

Manning said 23 of the cemetery’s 60 acres have been developed and this expansion project will sustain the cemetery for 10 more years. He said there have been 5,500 interments at the cemetery since it opened.

Among the improvements will be a memory wall where the names of veterans who have been cremated and had their ashes spread elsewhere can be listed, he said. And plans include a new administration building.

“Great things are on the horizon,” Manning said.

Gov. Greg Gianforte offered comment on the funding:

“Our nation is built upon the sacrifices of those who have served, and it is our solemn duty to honor and remember the veterans who have passed on,” he said in an email. “Each grave represents a story of courage, commitment, and an unbreakable bond to the ideals we hold dear. With this expansion, we’re ensuring the legacy of our heroes and their families is memorialized.”

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, said in an email he secured this funding as chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“Making sure Montana veterans have a final resting place that honors their service and sacrifice is critical to preserving their legacies,” he said in an email. “This expansion will allow us to properly memorialize our veterans and their families for decades to come in the Treasure State.”

The Montana State Veterans Cemetery was established in 1985 when the state Legislature authorized the first state veterans cemetery to be located at Fort Harrison, according to interment.net.

In 1986, the U.S. Congress authorized the transfer of 62.5 acres of federal land to the state for this new cemetery. The first burial was a World War I veteran on Sept. 8, 1987. The website says the cemetery is owned and operated by the Montana Department of Military Affairs.