Alabama’s Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spanish Fort recognized as one of the best | WKRG.com

SPANISH FORT, Ala. (WKRG) — Beneath thousands of headstones, a life of service and sacrifice is honored at the Alabama State Veterans Cemetery in Spanish Fort.

“It is pretty profound the sense of pride in the work,” said cemetery director Joe Buschell.

“The beauty is just overwhelming, and there is so much honor here for our veterans for the community,” said Commissioner of Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Jeff Newton. “It’s just a solemn place.”

Buschell accepted the Excellence in Veterans Cemetery Operations recognition, but he says it is a team effort.

“We’re going to do whatever it takes. When the day starts, our obligation is to honor that veteran and their family,” Buschell said.

The only state veterans cemetery in Alabama is the final resting place for almost 5,000 veterans and their spouses.

“They truly care for the veterans of the state of Alabama,” said Glenn Powers, Deputy Under Secretary of Cemetery Operations for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that sets the standards for all 124 state veterans cemeteries across the U.S. “They do exactly what we want them to do, what the American citizens want them to do, take care of our veterans, honor them in perpetuity.”

Established in 2013, the 130-acre property off Highway 225 has room to expand for generations to come.

“They gifted everybody at least a part of their life, said Buschell. “At this cemetery, we have at least a couple that gifted the whole thing, so that means a lot.”

A debt of gratitude that can never fully be repaid.