Torres announces $3.2M for Veterans Cemetery expansion

Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres, through the CNMI Office of Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs and the CNMI Office of Grants Management, announced last Monday that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded $3.2 million to expand and improve the CNMI Veterans’ Cemetery.

In August 2005, the CNMI Office of Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs received a Veterans Cemetery Construction Project Grant in the amount of $1.6 million for the construction of the CNMI Veterans’ Cemetery (CNMI-VC). Construction work on the 3.2 hectares of real estate designated for the cemetery commenced in September of the same year and concluded the following year. The CNMI-VC opened in Marpi Point on the island of Saipan in 2006.

Despite being in existence for 11 years, the cemetery lacks amenities available at other state cemeteries. The CNMI-VC currently does not have an administration office dedicated to assisting families in coordinating funeral arrangements. A visitor information area or kiosk is presently unavailable to assist visitors locate grave sites and provide additional information with regard to the CNMI-VC or the CNMI’s military history.

Additionally, the cemetery does not have any columbarium niches—one of the more prevalent forms of interment. More importantly, the cemetery does not have an on-site restroom to service the visitors and staff of the CNMI-VC. It should also be noted that the established burial plots are almost at capacity and requires the construction of additional burial plots.

Torres noted that the Office of Military and Liaison and Veterans Affairs and the Office of Grants Management began the formulation of the grant application in early April to address the capacity needs of the cemetery and to provide better accommodations for CNMI veterans and their families.

“Earlier this year, I asked our VA office and Grants office to work on the grant application to not only expand the capacity of the cemetery, but to also give our veterans, their families, and our community a better place to really pay tribute to our folks who dedicated their lives to the service of our islands and our country. With this grant award, we will be able to better honor our community’s finest by not only providing more spaces and amenities, but also an opportunity to learn about the military history of our islands. I commend our VA office and OGM for successfully securing this priority for the benefit of our veterans,” Torres said.

OGM administrator Epiphanio E. Cabrera, Jr. said OGM traveled to Washington, D.C. in May to plead the CNMI’s case for an expansion project for the CNMI Veterans Cemetery.

“We brought a great team to D.C., including executive director Oscar Torres from the CNMI Military & Veterans Office and Bruce Camacho of the Civil Military Liaison Office. We submitted three grant applications that included an expansion of Saipan and the construction of new cemeteries on Rota and Tinian. The Saipan Cemetery made it through a serious of panel reviews before making the final list. Only $45 million is available annually, and the competition is fierce with many city cemeteries equally deserving of such improvements. According to George Eisenbach, director of the National Cemetery Administration under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Rota and Tinian project applications have risen out of Tier 2 and placed into Tier 1 and are on the priority listing, so they will be up for consideration next year,” Cabrera said.

CNMI Office of Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs executive director Oscar C. Torres said the cemetery will now have more amenities that exist in many national cemeteries in the country.

“This is a great day for our veterans, our military families, and our community as a whole. The cemetery expansion and improvement plans include three columbarium structures, 240 double-depth crypts, a new administrative building to assist visitors and families to make funeral arrangements, a maintenance building, light fixtures with solar photovoltaic (PV) units to absorb the sunlight and serve as an alternate source of energy to generate electricity, a committal shelter that provides additional covered portions for family members during services on rainy or hot days, and perimeter fencing for added security. We want the best for our veterans, and we look forward to overseeing the completion of this expansion,” Torres said. (PR)