A dedication ceremony was held Friday for the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery.
Hundreds of veterans and area military personnel, including the 13th Army Band, Patrick Air Force Base Ceremonial Guard, Florida Army National Guard Honors Detail and the U.S. Navy Band Southeast, all took part in the ceremony.
News 13's Greg Pallone served as the Master of Ceremonies.
The new Department of Veterans Affairs 318-acre cemetery, located along U.S. Highway 1 in northern Brevard County, will serve the burial needs of more than 163,000 veterans in the cemetery’s service area for the next 100 years.
The VA purchased the land for the cemetery in July 2012 for $2.1 million.
The initial phase of construction will provide more than 17,000 grave sites for both in-ground casket and cremation interments as early as January 2015.
The cemetery is one of two new VA cemeteries in Florida.
On Nov. 9, the Tallahassee National Cemetery was dedicated. The VA said the 250-acre cemetery will be available for veterans and eligible family members and serve the burial needs of more than 83,000 for the next 100 years.
Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active-duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. A veteran’s spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they die before the veteran. Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.
The VA operates 133 national cemeteries and 33 soldiers lots and monuments sites in 40 states and Puerto Rico. More than 4 million Americans, including veterans of every U.S. war and conflict, are buried in VA’s national cemeteries.
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