VA awards more than $3M in grant to Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery

September 11, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 2, 2026

WASHINGTON —The Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration (NCA) announced today that it has awarded a grant of up to $3,109,391 to Arizona for the expansion of the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista.

The cemetery serves more than 104,000 Veterans and their eligible family members in the region. The grant will fund the construction of 2,600 columbarium niches, hardscape, landscape, irrigation and supporting infrastructure.

"These grants enable the states to better serve Veterans and their families where they live" said VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown. "Because of this program, more than 94% of Veterans living in the United States have access to the burial benefits they have earned at a cemetery within 75 miles of where they live."

Since 1980, VA has awarded 525 grants totaling over $1 billion to establish, expand, improve, operate, or maintain 125 Veterans cemeteries.

In 2025, VA grant-funded cemeteries interred more than 44,705 Veterans and eligible family members, which is approximately 25% of the 174,398 total annual interments in all national and VA grant-funded Veterans cemeteries.

For more information about Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, contact Cemetery Director Joe Larson at 520-458-7144 or avmc-sv@azdvs.gov