VA Awards Contract To Build Great Lakes National Cemetery

WASHINGTON (Sept. 16, 2004)- Fulfilling a commitment to Michigan veterans,
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a $8.7 million contract
to a local small business to begin work on the Great Lakes National Cemetery
in Oakland County, Mich.

"As promised, we're moving forward to meet the burial needs of Detroit-area
veterans and their families well into the future," said Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.

Edge Construction of Southfield, Mich., a small business construction
company, received the contract to begin work on the new national cemetery,
which is 45 miles northwest of Detroit.

When the first phase of construction is completed, the 50-acre site will
contain 6,500 full-casket gravesites, consisting of 5,200 pre-placed crypts
and 1,300 traditional full casket gravesites, plus a 1,768 unit columbarium
and 1,450 sites for in-ground cremated remains.

The new cemetery will also include temporary administration and maintenance
offices (to be replaced by a permanent structure in the second construction
phase), two committal service shelters, a public information center with
electronic gravesite locator and public restrooms, a cemetery entrance area,
flag assembly area, memorial walkway and infrastructure elements including
roadways, landscaping, utilities and irrigation.

Construction is estimated to begin in a few weeks and burials are expected
to begin in mid-2005 in a burial area within the construction area. This
option allows for burials to begin during construction of the cemetery.

The second phase of the construction project, planned to begin in 2007, will
replace the temporary offices with permanent structures and prepare for 10
additional years worth of gravesites.
Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and
dependent children are eligible for burial in a national cemetery. Other
burial benefits for eligible veterans include a burial flag, Presidential
Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker - even if they are
not buried in a national cemetery.

In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 120
national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, 33 soldiers' lots and
monument sites. More than three million Americans - including veterans of
every war and conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the current war in
Iraq - are buried in VA's national cemeteries. VA also provides grants to
states to build new or expand existing state veterans' cemeteries to
complement national cemeteries.

Information on the Great Lakes National Cemetery is available by calling
(810) 695-2007.