New Veterans Cemetery Set to Open in San Diego
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Miramar National Cemetery, an eight-year project honoring San Diego's veterans, is almost finished and will become the area's first veteran burial site in decades, Fox5SanDiego.com reports.
The cemetery is a reported $27 million project that started in 2002. When it's finished, Miramar will have 160,000 spaces -- enough to accommodate the next 50 years of veterans.
San Diego's nearest national cemetery is Fort Rosecrans in Point Loma, according to the station. But the cemetery closed to ground burials in 1966 because it ran out of space. The next closest spot is 100 miles away in Riverside.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"One of the hardest phone calls I've ever had is from a widow who wanted to bury her husband at Fort Rosecrans and we didn't have casketed space available," Kirk Leopard, Miramar National Cemetery director, told Fox5SanDiego.
"That's the decision we were making them face. Now, we won't ever have to do that again and that's made me happy," he said.
Homeless veterans will also be buried there, according to the station.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Click to read more on Miramar National Cemetery at Fox5SanDiego.com