A groundbreaking ceremony for the new State Veterans' Cemetery near the Alliance Airport will be held Friday, October 10 at 11 a.m.
The Alliance High School Band will be on hand to play the national anthem and other patriotic numbers.
Guest speakers include:
John Hilgert, Director of the Nebraska Dept. of Veteran's Affairs; Alliance Mayor Dan Kusek; Governor Dave Heineman; Nebraska Third District Congressman Adrian Smith; 49th District State Senator LeRoy Louden; and others.
Fuller Construction of Chadron has been awarded a nearly $2.7 million dollar contract to build the cemetery, which includes roads, infrastructure, and the main gate.
The cemetery will be on 22-acres of land donated by the city of Alliance next to the Alliance airport, site of a WWII air base.
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has approved $5 million for the project through the National Cemetery Administration. With the construction contract allowing 400 days, the funding is being split overtwo fiscal years with about $3 million in the coming year.
The Veterans Cemetery is expected to take 18-to-24 months to complete, putting the first burials most likely in the latter half of 2010.
The cemetery will serve 6,000 Nebraska veterans and their families.
The State of Nebraska funded the design phase of the project, but only after area residents donated several thousand dollars to assist with the funding of the design phase.
