AUGUSTA, Ga. — Local, state and federal officials gathered Friday morning to turn the first dirt on Augusta’s long-awaited state veterans cemetery, a goal that supporters have chased for roughly a quarter century.
The site covers more than 200 acres on Tobacco Road, tucked behind East Central Regional Hospital. Once built, it should rank as the biggest veterans burial ground in the state, holding thousands of graves for former service members, their eligible relatives and families across the CSRA.
The idea first surfaced in 2001 under former Mayor Bob Young. Augusta Commissioner Don Clark, who represents District 5, worked alongside Young for years to revive and push the effort to the finish line.
Money was the hardest piece. This fiscal year, the federal veterans agency is handing out a record $106.5 million, split among 21 cemetery projects nationwide. From that total, $13.6 million is set aside to establish the Augusta site, plus up to about $2.1 million to build and deliver pre-placed crypts that form a core part of the burial setup.
U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, who represents Georgia’s 12th Congressional District, credited fellow members of Congress for passing the spending bill that carried the federal share. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff also issued a statement calling the groundbreaking a step closer to giving area veterans and their families the benefits of a VA cemetery.
Clark said veterans will not need to call ahead or reserve a plot, because their military service is what qualifies them. Mayor Garnett Johnson described the project as a partnership that reaches past Augusta-Richmond County, since the cemetery will accept veterans from both Georgia and South Carolina.
That matters for military families in a region anchored by Fort Gordon. Today, families in the area often travel to Milledgeville or Columbia for a veterans burial.
Crews should need roughly a year and a half to build it out, and Clark said organizers hope to cut the ribbon around Memorial Day 2028.
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