Maui Veterans Cemetery Gets $1 Million VA Grant

The Hawai’i Army National Guard Funeral Honors Team, playing Taps at the Maui Veterans Cemetery in Makawao. File photo by Wendy Osher.

By Maui Now Staff

The Maui Veterans Cemetery in Makawao will benefit from a federal grant award of $1,092,739 for improvements, US Senator Brian Schatz announced today.

The funds, from the US Department of Veterans Affairs will be used for improvements including the raising, realigning, and cleaning of 1,554 headstones, officials said.

The grant will also allow groundskeepers to rehabilitate 132,000 square feet of turf and other supporting infrastructure, according to Sen. Schatz.

“The VA grant will ensure that the groundskeepers and cemetery officials have access to the resources they need to improve the Maui Veterans Cemetery and honor the final resting place of those veterans that are interred there,” said Sen. Schatz in a media release statement this afternoon.

“I am committed to ensuring that our veterans and their families are honored for their services, and that their sacrifices for our nation are remembered long after they have passed,” he said.

Earlier this year, the state filed a Draft Environmental Assessment, proposing expansion at the facility as it nears capacity for interment.