Efforts are currently underway in the state senate to create the first state-operated veterans cemetery in Michigan.
Michigan currently has two national veterans cemeteries located in the Southern Lower Peninsula— one at Fort Custer National Cemetery in Augusta and the other at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly.
Senate Bill 971 proposes the creation of a state veteran’s cemetery in Northern Michigan, something which bill sponsor Sen. Curtis VanderWall, R-Ludington, said will create better opportunities for Michigan veterans and their families.
“As our population ages, and we see more and more veterans passing away, they should have the opportunity to have their final resting place that is close to their families while allowing them to be honored for their service by internment in a veteran cemetery,” VanderWall said at a June 23 Senate Appropriations Committee meeting.
There are 532,394 veterans in Michigan, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The bill, also referred to as the “Veterans Cemetery Act,” would create a veterans cemetery fund in the state treasury, authorize the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) to acquire suitable land for the cemetery in a county with a population of not less than 12,500 and no greater than 13,000, and also give the Michigan DMVA administrative powers over the cemetery.
While the exact amount of costs is unknown for such a project, according to the Senate’s fiscal analysis of the bill, annual costs are estimated to be roughly $1 million. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has grant funds that states may use to establish and operate state veterans cemeteries.
Carey Jansen, a Crawford County Commissioner in the Northern Lower Peninsula, oversees a citizen-led taskforce working towards bringing the state veteran cemetery to Crawford County.
At the June 23 Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, Jansen cited several reasons why the county would be the best candidate for a state veteran cemetery— among those being its accessibility for residents of the Northern Lower Peninsula and the area’s National Guard facility, Camp Grayling.
“We have the infrastructure to support this, we don’t need to start from scratch,” Johnson said. “Northern Michigan has a need for a state operated veteran’s cemetery.”
The bill was referred to the Senate Committee of the Whole. It would need to pass both chambers of the legislature and signed by the governor to become law.
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