Veterans in Seneca County say so far they're not concerned with the governor's threats to stall promised monies.

The county and Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery Association are depending on $3.9 million in state grants for the project at the former naval and Air Force base in Romulus.

"It's quite a project," Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery Association President Rick Connors said.

After 10 years of planning, phase one of the Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery is underway.

"This company that’s in here, tore down six buildings and then we got another company in that's gonna do the grubbing or the clearing of the land, the 28 acres," Connors explained.

Phase one also includes new roadways, the installation of a memorial walk, and main flag pole area.

Connors and Don Linborg, Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery Association Vice President, said the main entrance, guard shack and three bay fire house left behind from the training days of World War II will also be redesigned and opened to the public.

"This is where the internment service will be,” Linborg said. “The five windows in the back will have stain glass windows. Each one will represent a branch of the military."

When asked how he envisions the project, Connors said, “Like Arlington Cemetery. That's what I see. The white marble marker stones, and I see veterans coming in here honoring their deceased brothers and sisters."

Connors and Linborg say the Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery should be ready for its first internment by next fall. Once it officially opens, they say up to 600 veterans could be laid to rest there each year.

"It means a great deal it really does. If you were around when I get all the calls from the old veterans that are in their 80s and early 90s the World War II veterans that went to basic training here, they're just, I mean they're ecstatic that we're building this. And they wanna come home," Connors said.

With Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira taking only cremations and Bath National Cemetery expected to reach capacity within five years, the cemetery in Seneca County may soon be the closest option for veterans from central and western New York.

That is one of the many reasons veterans believe state funding will continue to flow and federal recognition will be earned.

"It's an ideal location. It's a historical site besides," Connors said.

"I can't say I'm looking forward to it, or that I can't wait, but it'll be a place of honor for anybody that's buried here," said Linborg.

Senator Michael Nozzolio (R-54th) told YNN, "It is my understanding that all of the necessary contracts have been submitted and are awaiting final approval by the Division of Budget, the Governor, the Comptroller and the Attorney General, which is the normal review process for any capital project.”

Sampson Veterans Cemetery