Westmoreland Could Become Home to New York Veterans Cemetery

After Governor Cuomo proposed the idea to create the New York Veterans Cemetery last November, teams across the state have been looking for a site, and Oneida County recently threw their name in the hat to be considered.

According to Syracuse.com, U.S. Rep Anthony Brindisi held a summit last week and explained why the need is so great to build the cemetery in central New York.

"Typically, you don’t want to have a veteran or their family be more than 90 miles from a veterans cemetery," Brindisi said, according to Syracuse.com.

He also noted that roughly 56,000 veterans in central New York and the Southern Tier are further than that suggested 90 miles.

Brindisi told Syracuse.com that, if chosen, Oneida County would donate 150 acres of land for the cemetery just off of the Thruway in Westmoreland. However, Seneca County just released a competing bid for the cemetery, which would be put on the 162 acres of land that is already the Seneca County Veterans Cemetery, NYup reports.

Currently, New York is one of four states in America without a state veterans cemetery.