Utah’s new veterans cemetery receives federal funding to pay for its first phase

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded $16.5 million to help establish a new veterans cemetery and to expand an existing one. (Carolyn Ann Ryan/Getty Images) The development of a planned veterans cemetery in Utah is advancing, now with funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The federal agency’s National Cemetery Administration announced it awarded $16.5 million for two Utah projects, to help establish the Northern Utah Veterans Cemetery in Washington Terrace, and to expand the Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park in Bluffdale. The new cemetery is expected to cover 75 acres on a 100-acre parcel of state-controlled land in Weber County, according to the department . It would have the capacity to serve 4,000 veterans and family members in the region. The grant of $14.7 million for the new cemetery will help fund the construction of administrative and maintenance buildings, as well as other supporting infrastructure, 500 pre-placed crypts, 600 recessed spaces in which to place urns of cremated remains, known as columbarium niches, and 550 in-ground gravesites, the agency said in a news release. “These grants enable the states to better serve Veterans and their families where they live,” Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown said in the release.

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