LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A new state veterans cemetery opened just outside the loop off East 50th Street, is providing a final resting place for veterans and military families in West Texas.<\/p>\n
Texas Land Commissioner Doctor Dawn Buckingham said she is excited for the the West Texas State Veterans Cemetery<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCome and check out our cemetery, you are going to see all of the military traditions honored, and it\u2019s a beautiful place and it\u2019s really special to be able to serve our veterans community in this way,\u201d Buckingham said.<\/p>\n Resting place closer to home<\/p>\n Buckingham said one of the biggest reasons for bringing the cemetery to Lubbock was making sure those who enlisted out of West Texas have a place to return near ones they left behind.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want families to be able to visit their loved ones, so the veterans administration requirement, that roughly we are trying to get everyone within a certain diameter or radius of a cemetery, so the five we run across the state now really serves almost 90 percent of the state by the VA\u2019s guidelines,\u201d Buckingham said.<\/p>\n Requirements to be buried here<\/p>\n Norman Bearden, the on-site representative, said veterans must meet eligibility requirements to be buried at the cemetery. Eligible spouses and dependents can also be laid to rest with them.<\/p>\n \u201cVeterans who served after September of 1980 and have at least 24 months of consecutive service, are eligible for interment, as long as they received an honorable or a general under honorable discharge, spouses are also included on that benefit, as well as dependent children that are dependent on their parents because of a physical or mental disability,\u201d Bearden said.<\/p>\n Creating a place to feel safe <\/p>\n Bearden said the goal was to create more than a cemetery in West Texas, but a place veterans and their families can feel at home.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are all very proud to be part of the West Texas community, this isn\u2019t my cemetery, this isn\u2019t our director\u2019s cemetery, this is the veterans community, so we all own it, we all care for it, we all love it, and for most of us, it is our final resting place as well, so this is home,\u201d Bearden said.<\/p>\n He says there are more than 1,500 veterans pre-registered to be buried. But he says the cemetery has room to expand in the future with the hope of becoming a lasting home for those who served and sacrificed for our country.<\/p>\n To learn more about the Texas State Veterans Cemeteries, burial benefits and more, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n