The gateway to the Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery beckons visitors onto the grounds of newly opened facility near Madison. Interment in the cemetery, which officially opened-December 1,1999, is available to qualified Hoosier veterans and their spouses, certain dependents: of Hoosier veterans, and veterans from Kentucky and Ohio. Applications for burial in the cemetery are available from the Indiana. Department of Veterans Affairs in Indianapolis.

Guidelines Set for Burial in New Veterans Cemetery

The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs has released guidelines covering eligibility for burial in the Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery, which officially opened 'December 1, 1999:

Interment is open to those veterans who 1.) are legal residents of Indiana at the time of death; 2.) were residents of the state for a period of five years cumulative; or 3.) Were Indiana residents at the time of entry into -the: Armed Forces of the United States. The Indiana Department of Veteran Affairs or its designee may waive the five-year cumulative residency requirement if it determines there are compelling reasons to do so.

Deceased veterans eligible for burial in the Cemetery include:

• Any Indiana veteran who received a discharge other than dishonorable from the Armed Forces of the United States for service other than for training.

• Any Indiana reserve or national guard veteran who was eligible for retirement pay at the time of death or who would have been entitled .to retired pay but for the fact that they were not at least 60 years of age.

• Any Indiana member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces, including the National Guard and Reserve Officer Training Corps of the Army, Navy and Air Force, who dies while on active duty for training or while performing full-time service.

• Active duty personnel from Indiana (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and. Coast Guard) who die in the line of duty.

In addition, spouses and certain dependents are eligible to be interred in the same burial plot as the veteran. Eligible dependents are those who are unmarried and under the age of 21, and those for whom life-long dependency on the veteran can be established.

Cemetery, although the Cemetery will levy an "at-cost" charge for interment.

Additional information and applications for burial are available from the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs, 302 West-Washington -Street, Room E120, Indianapolis, IN. 46204-2738; Phone. (31.'7) 232-3910.

Madison Vet' First to be Interred
Reprinted by Permission  The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs Update

The first veteran to be interred at the Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery was Staff Sergeant Robert L. Davis, Army of the United States, a World War II veteran. For the last 54 years of his life he was Bob Davis of ' 922 Banta Ave., Madison, Ind. Before he retired in 1983, he was an industrial engineer with Grote Manufacturing Company in Madison. His wife Patricia, two daughters, one son, two stepsons, two grandchildren, six step grandchildren and one step-great grandchild survive him.

The burial took place December 6th, 1999, at 11 a.m. with family and close friends in attendance. American Legion Jefferson Post 9 rendered full military honors during the ceremony, and the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs was represented by Deputy Director Steve Steed. Steed has devoted much of his time and energy over the past year to getting the cemetery running.

Davis' burial and the honors rendered in his memory were in keeping with remarks by Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon at the opening of the cemetery, who said, "The Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery is a place of honor

Full Honors at Cemetery

The Honor Guard from Madison's Jefferson American Legion Post 9 stands at ease before rendering full military honors during the interment of Robert L. Davis, a World Warm II Army veteran, at the newly opened Indiana Veterans Memorial -Cemetery near Madison, Ind. Davis' services were the- first conducted at the cemetery since its opening Dec. 1. The Department of Defense has launched a program to ensure such honors for all veterans.