In tour, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton touts grant to North Little Rock veterans cemetery
Washington,
October 26, 2018
In tour, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton touts grant to North Little Rock veterans cemetery
By Jake Sandlin Expansion of the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock will add "many years" to the cemetery's function as a site for families and the military to bid a final farewell to veterans, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton said Thursday after a brief tour of the cemetery. A $5.7 million federal grant to the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs will fund 2,000 additional columbarium niches, 106 pre-place crypts, irrigation, roadways, landscaping and supporting infrastructure, and honor guard and storage rooms. The expansion is scheduled to take about 18 months from its groundbreaking Oct. 15. The federal grant was announced jointly last month by Cotton, R-Ark., Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Rep. French Hill, R-Ark. "That's going to help add many years of life to the cemetery and make sure that many veterans have the chance to lay at rest here with their battle buddies, with veterans from past wars from all five of our services," Cotton said to a small group of veterans after a driving tour of the grounds during a steady drizzle of rain and visiting with the cemetery's maintenance crew in the administration's parking lot. The enhancements will help serve the cemetery's purpose, to allow families "a solemn and serene moment to say goodbye to their loved ones and for the military services to say goodbye, as well, and honor our nation's fallen and honor their service to our country," said Cotton, an Army veteran who served in combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cemetery in North Little Rock, along with another in Birdeye in northeast Arkansas, are the only veterans cemeteries operated by the state. Three others in the state are managed by the federal Veterans Affairs. The ability to install pre-placed crypts will help reduce the cost to veterans' families for burials, said Col. Nate Todd, director for the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs. "So there is no charge to the veteran or the veteran's spouse," for a crypt to be put in, Todd said. "This expansion gives us another 20 years of interments we can have here." Cotton recently introduced legislation, the Honoring Our Heroes Act of 2018, that would allow all Medal of Honor recipients and prisoners of war eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery to receive full military-honors burials regardless of their rank. Full honors include a horse-drawn caisson for a procession, a band and an escort platoon, Cotton said. Full military honors with an escort are now reserved for commissioned officers, warrant officers and senior noncommissioned officers. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., has introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. The Arlington National Cemetery requirements may affect only "a handful" Arkansas veterans, Cotton said, and their families still might rather choose to have a burial in their state. "We have a beautiful cemetery here," Cotton said. "A lot of times, the family wants to have a funeral that is closer to home and that is quicker, too. In Arlington, for instance, a full honors funeral can take up to 6 to 9 months to schedule because of the limitations on the horses and the caisson wagon and so forth. We just want to make sure those families have those options." Cotton said his intention is that all eligible veterans are "sent off with the highest military honors our nation has," regardless of whether they were "a private or a general." The legislation could be voted on by the end of the year or early next year, he said. The change "shouldn't cost very much money at all," he added. The American Legion and the National League of POW/MIA Families are among numerous organizations supporting the legislation. |