MILLEDGEVILLE — A crowd of veterans, family members, local officials and Georgia Military College cadets gathered for a dedication ceremony Tuesday for the second expansion phase at the Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery. State Sen. Johnny Grant, R-Milledgeville, was the keynote speaker.
The initial phase of the cemetery included an administration/visitor center, a committal chapel, a carillon, and columbarium shelters for ashes. Phase I had 1,026 pre-placed crypts for casketed burials, including 720 double depth crypts and 306 single crypts. The use of double vaults gave a possible capacity for caskets of 1,746. Interment options included interment/memorialization of cremated remains with 768 niches for above-ground and 266 in-ground plots. The capacity for new casketed burials was reached in February of this year.
Phase II development of the cemetery began in September 2010 with a projected completion date of June 2011. The cost of the contract is approximately $1.5 million, which is a combination of federal and state funds. Copper Construction Company is the contractor, working from plans by 2KM Architects, the same firm that designed the initial phase in Milledgeville as well as Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery – Glennville.
Phase II is primarily an expansion of interment capacity, but it also includes a sod farm and enhancements to two of the existing buildings. The new development encompasses about 10 acres, including the road network. There are 973 pre-placed double depth crypts. There are spaces for 348 single vaults and 644 in-ground cremation spaces. This configuration will allow for a total casketed burial capacity of 2,294 people. There are no new columbaria in this phase as the existing columbaria have enough capacity for approximately 10 more years. With Phase II complete, the Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Milledgeville should have enough total capacity through 2021.
As of mid-April 2011, there are 1,600 people interred or memorialized in the cemetery: 1,369 veterans and 231 family members. Veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf are interred in the cemetery. Two service members who died on active duty in Afghanistan have been laid to rest here.
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