Finally, a place to honor Nebraska’s veterans

Recently, I attended the groundbreaking of the Nebraska Veterans Cemetery at Alliance. It was a day that has been eagerly anticipated by the community. It also has significance for our entire state because it is the first state cemetery for Nebraska veterans and their families.

It has been 13 years since local leaders first suggested the idea of a veterans’ cemetery to members of the Alliance City Council. I want to give special recognition to the members of the High Plains Veterans’ Cemetery Task Force. Their commitment to this project is what made it possible.

In 1997, the city donated land that was part of the Alliance Air Base used to train paratroopers in the 1940s.

The first attempt at creating a Nebraska State Veterans Cemetery System began in the Legislature in 1999. Tough economic times meant state funding had to be put on hold, but the members of the High Plains Task Force went ahead and raised their share of the seed money that started the application process. When things improved, the High Plains Task Force was at work once again with panhandle senators and my office to pick up where we left off.

In 2006, Sen. LeRoy Louden sponsored LB 996, which established the Nebraska State Veteran Cemetery System and allowed the state to contribute to cemetery projects. That year the budget recommendations I submitted to the Legislature included the state’s share of funding for the project. I was pleased to sign LB 996 into law when state senators sent it to my desk that year.

Sen. Louden is one of several people who played a key role in this project over the years who deserve recognition for their efforts. Former State Sen. Bob Wickersham introduced the original state cemetery bill in 1999. U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith supported the bill when he was in the Legislature and has advocated for the project since arriving in Washington, D.C. Finally, the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs kept the project moving forward by working with the staff of the State Cemetery Grant Program at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs during the approval process, which came this summer.

The VA has committed approximately $5 million for the construction of Nebraska’s first state cemetery for veterans and their families. The first phase of construction will include more than 2,500 burial sites, roadways, walking paths, and an entry monument on a12-acre area.

When complete, the cemetery is expected to accommodate 8,500 burial sites on 20 acres and will be operated by the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

This will be a place for Nebraskans to pay tribute to the men and women who served this nation in the U.S. Armed Forces. It will be a place for their families to honor them, and it will ensure that we always remember the sacrifices they made for our freedom.

Dave Heineman of Fremont is governor of Nebraska. He can be reached at P.O. Box 94848, Lincoln NE 68509-4848, (402) 471-2244, fax: (402) 471-6031 or e-mail at his Web site, www.gov.state.ne.us.