No Memorial Day Ceremony at KVCW
This year, there will be no Memorial Day Ceremony at KVCW, due to restrictions from the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The cemetery will be open to visitors who observe the 10-person group limit and who maintain physical distancing of six feet from each other. There will be grave flags at each headstone and the carillon will play patriotic music. KVCW staff will be present at the Administrative Building to direct visitors to specific grave.
KDVA Commissioner Keith Jackson sends this message:
This Memorial Day, we will be remembering our veterans who have passed not by gathering by the hundreds at veterans cemeteries, not by bringing large groups of family and friends to place flowers on graves, not by crowding together to hear speeches, but by staying apart to protect each other and the nation those veterans died to preserve.
We do not have to attend big ceremonies to honor our fallen heroes – we can honor them in our homes. We do not have to hear patriotic music to remember what they did – we see the success of their sacrifice around us every day.
On this Memorial Day, take strength and determination and renewed commitment from their example, and keep fighting to save all our loved ones from the pandemic that threatens us all.
I remind you to join Americans everywhere for the Memorial Day National Moment of Remembrance, legislated by Congress and proclaimed by the President, on Monday, May 25 at three o’clock.
Wherever you are, please pause for one minute in this act of national unity to demonstrate your gratitude and respect for those who died for our freedom.
ATTENTION: There is a NEW Funeral Honors Stipend
Request Form. Only NEW Stipend Request Forms will be processed for
payment. Please destroy any old stipend request forms, as they will no
longer be accepted.
NEW Funeral Honors Stipend Request Form
Wreaths Ceremony Dec. 14
Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West’s Wreaths Across America program will be held on December 14, 2019 starting at exactly 11:00 AM Central.
Aerial Photos
These aerial photos of Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West were taken by Chris Conley, a drone pilot who kindly offered to run his drone through the cemetery and take pictures.
Memorial Day Ceremony at KVCW on Monday, May 27, 2019
Ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Central TIme:
Presentation of Colors
VFW Honor Guard: Quentin Stone, Commander
Rifle Detail: Junior Letts, Don Hood
Flag Bearers: Ken Cunningham, Tommy Shehan
Opening Remarks: John Brame, Commander VFW Post 1913
Introduction of guest speaker: John Brame, Commander VFW Post 1913
Guest Speaker: Chaplin Colonel US Army (Ret) Richard A. Cooper
Placing of Wreath: John Brame, Commander VFW Post 1913 and Richard Stanley, Director Ky Veterans Cemetery West
Taps: John Brown
Changing of the Cemetery Flag Flag Detail: Robert Aldridge, Ted Wood, Shawn Flanagan, Bud Wink, Richard Block
Benediction: William Poquette, Chaplin VFW Post 1913
Lunch following service at VFW Post 1913
Columbarium Expansion at KVCW
The new Columbarium Walls at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West in Hopkinsville are complete.
Pictures here.
Honoring One of the KDVA Family
On Nov. 15, KDVA honored Marine Veteran Joseph E. King, Sr., who died this year. He was the husband of longtime KDVA Veterans Benefits Field Representative Hope King and the father of their four children.
KDVA Benefits and Cemetery Staff were present to dedicate the bench. From left, kneeling, Kim Ebelen, seated Carol Livingston, Hope King, Monica Acob, Renita Duff. Standing Ron McClure, Ray Harris, Matt Gadson, Gary Greenfield, Matt LaPierre, Scott Burton, Jonathan Tatum, Terry Cansler, Ed Day.
Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West is located on 99 acres on Route 41A south of Hopkinsville at mile marker 11. It opened in 2004. As of May 30, 2013, it has interred 2,314, including 1,748 veterans, 566 dependents and 17 service members killed in action.
Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West
5817 Fort Campbell Boulevard
Hopkinsville, KY 42240
Phone: 270-889-6106
Fax: 270-889-6109
Email: kdva.kvcw@ky.gov
Qualifications
According to Kentucky law,
the individual must be a Kentucky veteran for burial at one of the state
veteran cemeteries. Examples include: born in KY, served at one of the
U.S. military installations in KY, lived in KY, home of record in KY.
Hours of Operation
Kentucky's State Veterans Cemeteries
are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Normal business
hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, not including state
holidays. Interments take place on non-holiday weekdays only.
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays are reserved for families and loved ones
of those interred to visit in peace and quiet.
Services
Total interment services include:
- Furnishing grave or columbarium space
- Opening and closing the grave
- Providing the interment site with perpetual care
- Supplying a suitable marker or headstone
- Furnishing an optional concrete grave liner for casketed burials