New veterans cemetery a 'national shrine'

New veterans cemetery a 'national shrine'
Burial site for region's veterans to be dedicated after six-year campaign
By Kim Hackett
Published Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 7:14 a.m.

SARASOTA COUNTY — Sarasota County is poised to become a resting ground for thousands of military veterans after Sunday's groundbreaking and dedication of the 295-acre Sarasota VA National Cemetery.

The ceremony at the new site on State Road 72, east of Interstate 75, is expected to draw 1,000 people, including local politicians such as U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan and former U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris. The Navy Band from Jacksonville will play and the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office will have a helicopter flyover.

"It's the culmination of a dream," said , president of the Sarasota County Veterans Commission, who started the campaign for the cemetery six years ago and got Harris to push it through Congress. "We need it now to properly recognize and bury Korean and World War veterans who are a vast aging group."

The Sarasota County cemetery will be Florida's sixth national cemetery. Its addition is part of the nation's biggest expansion of cemeteries for veterans since the Civil War.

More than 400,000 veterans live within 75 miles of Sarasota. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated the cemetery will accommodate more than 10 burials a day, and up to 50 a day, once it opens.
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