SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Today, South Dakotans were able to celebrate Memorial Day at the newly opened South Dakota state veterans’ cemetery. The cemetery located just north of I-229/I-90 Interchange is the first federally funded, state-owned, and operated, veterans cemetery in South Dakota.
Construction of the initial phase of the cemetery is completed, with interments scheduled to begin the first week of June 2021. The first-phase of the cemetery provides space for more than 2,300 interments. In the decades to come, it will provide burial options for more than 28,000 veterans and their eligible dependents.
“This new cemetery is an everlasting shrine to our veterans,” said Erin Brown, cemetery director. “It reminds us every day of the sacrifices that generations of men and women have made for all of us.”
The cemetery project was funded through a grant from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, as well as general funds from the State of South Dakota. The cemetery will be owned by the State of South Dakota and operated by the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We are excited and honored to share this day with our partners and with South Dakota,” said Brown. “This facility was made possible by cooperation at the federal, state, local, and community levels.”
More information on the project can be found here.
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