Sunset Veterans Cemetery in Quincy to get $1.3 million in upgrades

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration recently announced that the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program, which it oversees, has awarded the state of Illinois a grant of $1,330,192 to expand Sunset Veterans Cemetery in Quincy, Ill.

“The Veterans Cemetery Grant Program is a model for how federal and state governments can work together towards a mutual goal,” said Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Matthew Quinn. “By working with states like Illinois, we’ve increased access so that nearly 94 percent of all veterans living in the United States have a national, state, tribal or territorial veterans cemetery located within 75 miles of home.”

Sunset Veterans Cemetery is a state veterans cemetery, which currently serves more than 14,000 veterans and their eligible family members. The planned expansion on the Illinois Veterans Home campus includes a new columbarium with 140 niches for funeral urns to be stored, a new committal service shelter, a material storage area, landscaping and a supporting infrastructure on 0.6 acres of land.

VCGP complements the VA national cemetery system by funding state, territorial and tribal veterans cemeteries, increasing access to burial benefits for veterans and their eligible family members. Since its inception in 1978, the program has provided more than $910 million to establish, expand, improve, operate and maintain 119 cemeteries in which veterans are interred. In fiscal year 2020, these cemeteries conducted more than 37,000 burials.