Milledgeville
The Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery is located some 5 miles south of downtown Milledgeville along Georgia Highway 112.
This cemetery, established on 142 acres the department received from the Georgia Forestry Commission, includes an administration/visitor center with a state of the art information booth, a gravesite locator (makes it possible for family members to locate a loved one buried at the cemetery), a committal chapel, a carillon, and 12 columbarium shelters for ashes. Cemetery grounds also include a six-acre lake and a three-acre, multi-tier walled ceremonial/memorial area available for use by veteran organizations on remembrance days such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
The cemetery’s initial construction phase was completed November 2001 and presently has a capacity for some 1,000 burial vaults. Presently occupying some 30 of the 142 acres, the cemetery will eventually be a final resting place for more than 100,000 Georgia veterans separated under other than dishonorable conditions, their dependents and their spouses.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates the number of veteran deaths in the United States will increase from 550,000 in 1998 to a staggering 620,000 in 2008. The state of Georgia has the fastest growing number of veterans, presently close to 770,000.
The lack of available space within the national veteran cemetery system in Georgia, caused concern among many local, state and national officials. Before this cemetery, if a veteran wished to be buried in a national cemetery, the nearest site was out of state.
Thanks to the efforts of those officials who represent Georgia’s interests and federal funding, the veterans of our state now have this final place of rest with the honor they deserve.
Interment services are held Monday through Friday excluding holidays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.