Between Fort Eisenhower, the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, and all the other resources, Augusta is a very military-friendly city. But it’s missing one thing: A veterans cemetery.

About 40 veterans from the area this week jumped on a bus and headed to the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta with the hope of correcting that.

A burial in a veterans cemetery comes with a lot of benefits and a veteran can be buried in any veterans cemetery no matter the location. But currently, the closest ones to Augusta are in Milledgeville and Columbia, South Carolina, both of which are more than 80 miles away.

Bringing this resource closer to the Augusta area’s military families has been a long-time passion project for veterans Don Clark and Bob Young, the former mayor of Augusta.

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More than 200 acres of property have been procured around the East Central Regional Hospital’s Gracewood campus. Once completed, Georgia’s Department of Veteran Affairs will be in charge of its management.

The problem is funding the cemetery’s creation. The price is north of $10 million. The initial plan was to finance it with a federal cemetery grant, but it’s too far down on the grant’s list of priorities.

Their last hope is that the state will cover the cost, and there’s a window of opportunity between now and March when the legislative session for this year ends.

What happens if they miss that deadline?

“Don and I are probably going to fold our tent and go home,” Young said. “The only option after going to the state legislature would be, ‘Hey, City of Augusta, you want to pay for a cemetery for the state of Georgia?’ … I don’t think that’s a question the commission is looking forward to answering and I don’t think it’s an appropriate question.”

So the veterans lobbied in Atlanta, and multiple legislators were supportive.

“We are trying to find a way to honor our veterans by allowing them to be interred in their home community,” said state Sen. Max Burns.

Gloria Frazier voiced her support as a military spouse herself and as a state representative for the more than 66,000 military families in the Augusta area.

“I understand how important it is to make sure that we have our husbands and loved ones laid to rest close to us, so that we can actually visit them.” Frazier said. “A lot of the spouses would like to visit their loved ones a lot more.”

Clark said the trip went amazingly and they were proud to have so many veterans coming together to fight for this cause.

“This is history,” he said. “Bob and I have been working this process for four years going on five. … So to be able to introduce our veterans to the legislative process in motion and in action, and for them to receive recognition at the state capitol level, (I’m) very, very proud.”