The final push is underway for a last piece of federal funding for the long-awaited Orange County veterans cemetery before shovels hit the ground.
Twenty members of California’s congressional delegation signed onto a letter this month urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to approve a pre-application for the veterans cemetery to get a $6 million grant.
“With nearly $55.5 million secured, a dedicated site, and overwhelming public support, this project is not only needed, but also ready to break ground and begin construction,” they wrote.
Orange County is the largest county in the state without a veterans cemetery. After years of debate and previous failed efforts, the county is finally on the precipice of having the veterans cemetery built in Anaheim Hills’ Gypsum Canyon. It will be called the Southern California State Veterans Cemetery.
That $55.5 million already secured comes from funding allocated by the county and the state. The letter from lawmakers said a national cemetery for veterans in Riverside is too far and makes regular visits for people to visit and “remember their loved ones unfeasible.”
The plan is for a public cemetery owned by the Orange County Cemetery District and the veterans cemetery that the California Department of Veterans Affairs will control to split the site.
Nick Berardino, president of the Veterans Alliance of Orange County and a Marine Corps veteran who has been behind the push, said the struggle has been long, but “we’re right at the end.”
“All we need now is a very small amount of money from the federal government and for them to approve the application,” Berardino said.
Berardino said there should be an answer from the VA by mid-October. He said the project is “shovel-ready” as soon as that step is complete.
“Our hearts and our souls look to the sky and pray that veterans will finally see their dream come true,” Berardino said. “And we pray for that in the echoes of the voices of all those who have sacrificed so much for our nation. We are so close that it becomes a little bit emotional.”
It’s been a long journey to get to this point. There were once plans to build the veterans cemetery in Irvine, but that didn’t happen and eventually a consensus formed around the Gypsum Canyon site. It got approval in July 2024 from the Anaheim City Council.
Berardino said the achievement is especially noteworthy since it will have been done with bipartisan support “during the most hostile environment politically that’s ever existed in our nation.”
“Who would have thought that Orange County would have every Republican and every Democratic elected official standing in support from every level of government,” he said. “That is a phenomenal testament to what can be done.”
At the public cemetery, there will be dedicated spaces for veterans of allied nations and first responders.
General Manager of the Orange County Cemetery District Tim Deutsch said they are in the thick of getting water and electric utilities to the site and getting construction plans in place.
Deutsch said the goal is for the public cemetery to begin moving dirt next year. The public cemetery is expected to be open by 2027 or 2028. A road will connect the public cemetery to the private one. CalVet will do the design for the veterans cemetery.
The cemetery district is expecting to run out of casket burial spaces by the end of 2028 after adding more spaces at its cemeteries in Santa Ana and Lake Forest.
“We are cutting it close, but we are doing everything we can possible to make that happen for the families we serve,” Deutsch said. “We’ve had great patience because we are trying to make this amazing collaboration happen that will be a once-in-a-lifetime project.”
The last new public cemetery to open was El Toro Memorial Park in 1896 in Lake Forest.
The cemetery district recently reduced costs by downsizing the amount of land it will need to grade in the canyon, Deutsch said.
A final cost-sharing agreement between the cemetery district and CalVet hasn’t been finalized, Deutsch said. That will come after the federal government’s decision on the grant.