Work begins on veterans' cemetery
ZACHARY — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is on a fast track to develop burial sites at a new national cemetery before the Port Hudson National Cemetery runs out of space for new interments later this year.
Construction has begun at a new site, to be known as Louisiana National Cemetery, on 103 acres of land on West Mount Pleasant Road west of Zachary and south of the Port Hudson cemetery.
Rex Kern, Port Hudson’s director, said “Phase 1-A” of the construction will include 2,500 crypts and an area for in-ground burial of cremated remains.
The Civil War-era Port Hudson cemetery is expected to close to first-interment casketed burials in July. Port Hudson will stay active with casketed interments of those with family members already buried there.
The VA estimates that space for cremated remains on the 19.9-acre site will be depleted in 2015.
Georgia-Pacific Corp. offered to donate 3.87 acres adjacent to the cemetery, but archaeological investigations in 2009 revealed intact features related to a Confederate artillery battery on the site during the 1863 siege of Port Hudson, according to an environmental assessment report for a new cemetery.
The VA bought the new site on the entrance road to Georgia-Pacific’s Port Hudson paper mill in September from Land Investments of Louisiana Inc. for $2.08 million, according to a news release from Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate.
The department will hold a dedication ceremony for the new cemetery at 11 a.m. March 24. The ceremony will be open to the public.
“I’ve heard concerns from veterans that when Port Hudson National Cemetery reaches capacity, they will no longer have burial benefits in their local area,” Kern said.
“This ceremony is our opportunity to assure all Louisiana veterans and family members that their benefits will continue for many years to come,” he said.
Construction will include both gravesites and columbarium development in two phases, providing a full range of burial alternatives to approximately 293,000 veterans and eligible family members in East Baton Rouge Parish and the surrounding area.
The first phase of construction will include approximately 17 acres with 2,500 in-ground pre-placed crypts, 1,128 traditional gravesites, an entrance feature, roadway, utilities and necessary infrastructure, according to a VA news release.
The second phase will cover approximately 12 acres and will include an administration building and maintenance complex, one committal service shelter,1,000 columbarium niches, 1,130 cremains sites and a public assembly area. The project will also include water distribution, roads, utilities, signage, landscaping and site furnishings.
Kern said the cemetery should be fully developed by April 2013.
Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a VA national cemetery. Also eligible are military personnel who die on active duty, their spouses and eligible dependents.
For more information on the Louisiana and Port Hudson National Cemeteries, call the cemetery office at (225) 654-3767.