YORK COUNTY, S.C. — The York County Council approved a resolution this week in support of a proposed veterans cemetery on a plot of land being donated by a South Carolina couple.
Tom and Gia Purcell said they would be honored to have 65 acres of their land used to provide a final resting place to service members from the area. The cemetery would be located in the Bullock Creek community, west of Rock Hill, off of Bonner Horton Road.
Now that the county council approved the resolution, the York County Veteran's Affairs office will put together an application for the cemetery. York County is competing with five other counties in South Carolina to get the cemetery.
Tom Purcell, a decorated Vietnam combat helicopter pilot, said the military "did more for me than I ever did for them." Purcell said a good friend of his, a World War II veteran, died last spring and was taken all the way to Anderson County to the nearest VA cemetery.
Any military member with an honorable discharge is eligible to be laid to rest in a veterans cemetery. The cemetery could be approved by the federal government as early as next year.
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