Ground was broken last month on a $32 million expansion and improvement project at Calverton National Cemetery.
The expansion plan, which will be paid for through a federal grant, features the development of approximately 89 acres in the northern section of the 1,050-acre cemetery property. That expansion, due to be completed sometime in the fall of 2011, calls for 33,000 preplaced crypts and space for almost 6,000 cremation niches and in-ground sites.
"It is a shrine that deserves the highest possible care that it can possibly receive because those who are spending eternity here are those who have given to their nation in ways for which we must be eternally grateful," said Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), who spoke at a ceremony at the site in October.
The project, which is the largest undertaking at the cemetery since the mid-1990s, will also include administration- and maintenance-building improvements as well as work on utilities, irrigation systems, landscaping and paving and repair of existing roads within the cemetery.
The bid for the work was awarded to GC&P Fab-Con, a firm with local offices in Riverhead. The expansion is expected to provide jobs for more than 100 people during the two-year project.
Aside from being the largest, Calverton is also one of the busiest properties in the national cemetery system. Over 214,000 veterans and their spouses have been buried there in just 30 years since it opened.
Cemetery director Michael Picerno said the expansion will extend gravesite availability to eligible candidates for an additional 10 years.
Mr. Picerno told the Riverhead News-Review last fall that had the cemetery not been awarded the money, which came from a substantial increase in Congressional funding in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2009 budget, staff there would have been "scrambling" to accommodate the endless stream of dead veterans and spouses, Mr. Picerno said. Some 6,500 men and women are interred each year at Calverton National Cemetery, which opened in 1978.
Calverton is the only national cemetery on Long Island not at capacity.
Lt. Michael Murphy of Patchogue is the only Medal of Honor recipient buried at Calverton. Lt. Murphy was killed in 2005 after exposing himself to enemy fire and knowingly leaving his position of cover to get a clear signal in order to communicate with his headquarters, according to various media accounts of his actions. He provided his unit's location and requested immediate support for his element and then returned to his position to continue fighting until he died from his wounds.
He was the first person to be awarded the medal for combat in Afghanistan.
His father, Daniel Murphy of Wading River, said he visits his son's grave at Calverton two or three times a week, and is grateful to see expansion efforts will give other local families the same opportunity.
"[The expansion] is a godsend to the extent that it will allow other Long Island families to be able to visit their loved ones at a national cemetery here on Long Island," said Mr. Murphy, whose mother and father are also buried at Calverton. "We have to give credit to Congressman Bishop for his attempts to get the funding to make that possible."
Burial at Calverton National Cemetery is free of charge. Eligibility requirements include military service and an other-than-dishonorable discharge. For more information on VA burial benefits, please visit the National Cemetery Administration's Web site at www.cem.va.gov or contact Calverton National Cemetery at 631-727-5410.
jwilliams@northshoresun.com