More than 500 acres have been purchased in two different locations to build new National Cemeteries for Florida’s veterans. It's part of the VA’s plan to make cemeteries more accessible to large veteran population centers.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning two new cemeteries for Florida - one between Daytona and Melbourne and the other in Tallahassee.
Some 1.6 million veterans live in the state. A VA survey shows that many veterans do not use the National Cemeteries because they are too far away.
Michael Nacincik of the VA National Cemetery Administration says 80% of burials are from within a 75 mile radius.
"So the VA uses that as a benchmark when we’re looking at veterans populations to place that cemetery in the center of a large veteran population within that captures that 75 mile circle where we know a majority of the veterans will use a VA National cemetery during their time of need", said Nacincik.
The two new cemeteries will open in about 18 months. In the past 5 years the VA has opened cemeteries in Jacksonville, South Florida, and Sarasota.