Commissioner Buckingham Applauds 115 Acre Land Donation for the Texas State Veterans Cemetery at Abilene

AUSTIN - Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is excited to announce the dedication of 115 acres of land for the Texas State Veterans Cemetery at Abilene. In February 2024, Commissioner Buckingham sent a letter to the city's Mayor, Weldon Hurt, and the City Council members requesting that the land be donated to the VLB for the cemetery. By June, the City of Abilene authorized this generous donation, extending the cemetery's timeline by 75-100 years.

"As VLB Chairwoman, it is an honor to help ensure our Veterans and their families are shown the utmost reverence and receive the VLB's full support during one of the most difficult times of their lives," said Commissioner Buckingham. "By donating over 100 acres of land to the Texas State Veterans Cemetery at Abilene, Mayor Hurt and the City Council members have helped ensure future generations of Veterans and their families will have a place of honor to rest. I thank these leaders and the City of Abilene staff who helped make my request for this crucial land a reality for our Veterans."

Tony Dale, the Executive Secretary of the VLB, traveled to Abilene to speak at the press conference alongside Texas State Representative Stan Lambert of District 71, Abilene Mayor Hurt and Abilene City Manager Robert Hanna.

This critical expansion of the Texas State Veterans Cemetery at Abilene was made possible by the hard work of Abilene City Manager Robert Hanna and the City of Abilene staff. Their dedication will ensure Veterans continue to be interred with dignity at no cost to themselves or their families.

The Texas State Veterans Cemetery at Abilene was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 25, 2009, and opened on June 1, 2009. It is the VLB's third Texas State Veterans Cemetery. The cemetery has interred over 4,080 Veterans and family members and averages one to two burials daily. There are spaces for traditional casket burials, columbaria walls for cremations, in-ground plots for cremated remains, and a memorial wall.

The grounds include a covered, open-air structure for committal services, a visitor's center, a computer kiosk for locating specific graves or interments, an assembly area for special occasions, such as Memorial Day observances, an avenue of flags, a Vietnam Memorial Plaza, and a memorial walkway for monuments. The cemetery recently dedicated aVietnam War monument and will soon dedicate new World War II, Korean War, and Persian Gulf War monuments.