Prescott National Cemetery Opens For Cremation

Veterans in central Arizona can now be buried at Prescott National Cemetery with the opening of a columbarium for cremation inurnments.

"This burial option is a significant benefit for veterans & their family members in the region," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. "We can again offer commemoration in perpetuity for veterans at Prescott National Cemetery ."

The new, expanded facility for cremated remains officially opens Feb. 5th.

“The cemetery closed in 1974 when the facility ran out of space for casket burials, although eligible family members of veterans already buried there could be interred,” said Wayne Ellis, director, Prescott National Cemetery. “The new columbarium provides a burial option to nearly 27,000 veterans & their dependents who were not served by an open VA national or state veterans cemetery.”

The $2.4 million columbarium wall on the western side of the cemetery provides 3,000 niches for cremated remains & was built by Hal Hays Construction, a California-based small business contractor. Infrastructure improvements, including a road, sidewalks, irrigation & landscaping, were also made at the cemetery.

Prescott National Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses & dependent children can be buried in a national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for eligible veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a national or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate, & a government headstone or marker.

In the midst of the largest cemetery expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 124 national cemeteries in 39 states & Puerto Rico & 33 soldiers’ lots & monument sites. More than 3 million Americans, including veterans of every war & conflict -- from the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terror-- are buried in VA's national cemeteries on more than 16,000 acres of land.

Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from their site at cem.va.gov, or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.