VA buys land for Wyoming’s first veterans national cemetery

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming will soon have its first veterans national cemetery.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it purchased about five acres near Cheyenne for a VA National Cemetery. The agency paid the city of Cheyenne about $64,000 for the land.

Interim Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ronald E. Walters says the Cheyenne cemetery will help reach veterans in rural parts of Wyoming without reasonable access to a national or state veterans cemetery. The new cemetery will serve nearly 22,000 veterans, their spouses and eligible family members.

The cemetery will include burial sites, above-ground columbarium niches, a memorial wall, flagpoles, a memorial walkway, roads and other infrastructure.

The Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery at Evansville is run by the state. Wyoming’s congressional delegation welcomed the announcement.