LUBBOCK, Texas — The City of Lubbock will hold an announcement ceremony Friday, releasing new details on the new state Veterans cemetery coming to Lubbock next Fall.
Chief of staff of the Lubbock VFW, Benny Guerrero, said the event will feature speakers and a glimpse at new plans for the cemetery. Guerrero said veterans in counties all over the south plains, are looking forward to having a final resting place closer to home.
“They’re so excited for this because now they get to travel maybe 30 minutes to an hour to see their family whenever their final resting spot here in Lubbock, instead of five to seven hours that they used to,” Guerrero said.
Lubbock will soon be home to the fifth state veteran cemetery in Texas. Right now more than 21,000 veterans call Lubbock home.
Guerrero said those who have been buried will have the option by family to be moved, and those wishing to be buried there can make that happen soon. He said those looking to be buried there must qualify and hold a specific form.
“When you get out as a service, the D 24214 serves almost as a passport for you to gain access to benefits, so without that passport then you really didn’t serve, so you need to have that DD214 and one of those benefits is burial services, so you want your family to have a copy of a DD214, because
we can’t do anything without it,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero said the new cemetery will have a special feature that will honor veterans day and night.
“There’s going to be one thing that the community will be responsible for and that’s the bell tower,” Guerrero said. “ It plays taps at 10 p.m., it will play taps, it plays Reveley, and it plays the service songs, each of the six branches of service will play it at noon so that bell tower serves a purpose.”
Gurrero said they will need help funding the tower and are working towards making sure those plans become a reality.
“We’re going to start maybe some fundraisers later on, and we’re asking the community if everyone fits in a dollar, you had something to do with that,” Guerrero said.
The cemetery has been a work in progress for over three years.
The announcement will be held Friday, June 9th at 10 am, where the new cemetery will be located on 50th East of East Loop 289.
