Veterans Cemetery Receives Award
The Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS) is proud to announce that the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Dublin has received the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA) Operational Excellence Award.
The prestigious award was presented at a special ceremony held on August 29 at the cemetery by James Earp, Director of NCA’s Veterans Cemetery Grants Program to DVS Commissioner Chuck Zingler, DVS Director of Virginia State Veterans Cemeteries Michael Henshaw, and Travis Graham, Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery Superintendent.
The NCA’s Operational Excellence Award is presented to selected state veterans cemeteries in recognition of outstanding compliance during their triennial review. This rigorous review process examines 95 NCA standards including interment operations, grounds and equipment maintenance, and headstone alignment.
This was the first NCA review for the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery using the new Operational Excellence Award standards. The 80-acre cemetery is located in the Town of Dublin in Pulaski County, adjacent to the Radford Army Ammunition Plant complex. Currently 2,705 veterans and family members are interred on its grounds.
The NCA operates 155 national cemeteries and oversees 122 state and tribal veteran cemeteries that were funded through USDVA grants. This Operational Excellence Award places the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemeteries among the best of the state and tribal cemeteries evaluated by the NCA.
“The goal will always be for every veteran and every family to visit the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery and feel truly honored by the level of detail and excellence that goes into making it the best it can be. My congratulations to the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, Commissioner Zingler, Director Henshaw and especially Superintendent Graham and his team for earning the Operational Excellence Award,” said NCA Director James Earp as he presented the award.
“We are truly blessed to have this magnificent cemetery here in Pulaski County to serve as a final resting place for my fellow veterans and their family members from throughout Southwest Virginia,” said Delegate Jason Ballard. “I join with my fellow members of the General Assembly in congratulating Travis Graham, his staff and the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemeteries volunteers for receiving this special recognition.”
“Providing Virginia veterans with a final resting place that is worthy of the honor they deserve for their unselfish service to our Commonwealth and our Nation is why our veterans cemeteries are a such a vital part of our mission at the Virginia Department of Veterans Services,” said Commissioner Zingler. “Earning this prestigious award from the NCA is welcome and deserved recognition for our agency’s efforts in achieving this important mission. I add my congratulations to Director Henshaw and to Superintendent Davis and his great team for all they do every day to ensure that the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery is and will always be among the best veterans cemeteries in America.”
About the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery
The Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery is one of three state veterans cemeteries operated by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, including the Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Amelia and the Albert G. Horton, Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery in Suffolk. These three cemeteries conduct over 2,000 solemn and dignified memorial services honoring those Virginia men and women who served in our U.S. Armed Forces and their eligible family members. Each of the cemeteries offer in-ground burial of casketed remains, in-ground interment of cremated remains, and above ground inurnment of cremated remains. The Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery also has a scatter garden, the Commonwealth’s only “green burial” option for veterans other than Arlington National Cemetery. For more information about Virginia’s State Veterans Cemeteries, including eligibility requirements for admission, please visit www.dvs.virginia.gov
About the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS)
The Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS) is a state government agency with more than 50 locations across the Commonwealth of Virginia. DVS traces its history to 1928 and the establishment of the Virginia War Service Bureau to assist Virginia’s World War I veterans. Today, DVS assists veterans and their families in filing claims for federal veterans benefits; provides veterans and family members with linkages to services including behavioral healthcare, housing, employment, education, and other programs. The agency operates long-term care facilities offering in-patient skilled nursing care, Alzheimer’s/memory care, and short-term rehabilitation for veterans; and provides an honored final resting place for veterans and their families at three state veterans cemeteries. It operates the Virginia War Memorial, the Commonwealth’s tribute to Virginia’s men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice from World War II to the present. For more information, please visit www.dvs.virginia.gov.
