Chapel funds pour in

Almost $1.2 million has been raised to build a chapel at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

Operation Godspeed, a nonprofit organization founded in Southern Nevada during the Persian Gulf War to support the troops, grew into a driving force to raise funds for a memorial chapel at Nevada's final resting place for veterans.

The 16-member group began its campaign in February 1996 and is seeing the effort pay off. Construction is expected to begin before Memorial Day and should be completed by February 2000, Doug Bradford, Operation Godspeed spokesman, said.

The cemetery, where 1,200 burials are conducted annually, has been without a chapel since its inception in 1990, leaving ceremonies to be held outdoors.

The 4,800-square-foot nondenominational chapel will hold up to 400 people and will allow two simultaneous services or functions, private memorials and visitations.

A "Walk of Life" pathway will lead up to the chapel, each stone memorializing men and women who served in the military. Pavers can be purchased for $100 to $1,000.

The cemetery is one of the second-most-used veterans cemeteries in the the country, Bradford said. Nevada residency is not required for burial.

The veterans community in Las Vegas is also the fastest-growing in the country because a lot of veterans who come from out of state join local veterans groups, Bradford said, "We've raised a lot of donations from veterans."

Nearly $600,000 came from private donations, most in the $10 to $100 range, he said. Another $200,000 was donated by the state. Another $395,000 came from the federal State Cemetery Grants program.

The chapel's design was donated by Las Vegas architect Ken Horak, whose father was a World War II veteran.

Other donations came from Circus Circus Enterprises, Marine veteran organizations, Pearl Harbor survivors and other organizations. The Jewish War Veterans of Nevada donated $35,000.

"It seems in the years past veterans organizations have been a bit fractured," Bradford said. "They've really come together in the past few years."

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