The Veterans Honor Garden at Historic Lutz Cemetery
A Permanent Place of Honor
The Veterans Honor Garden at Historic Lutz Cemetery will be home to the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran, a project of the separate Tomb of the Unknown Veteran Foundation. The Foundation is responsible for developing and supporting the Tomb and its mission of providing a permanent, dignified resting place for the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans. Historic Lutz Cemetery is proud to serve as the permanent home of this important memorial, donating the cemetery space for the Garden and Tomb, providing perpetual grounds care for the designated area, and waiving all Historic Lutz Cemetery inurnment fees for veterans placed within the Tomb.
At the heart of the Garden will stand the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran, an octagonal communal cremation ossuary crowned by an Eternal Flame. Each of its eight granite monument panels will represent the United States, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Space Force, and POW/MIA. Surrounded by coordinating flags and a thoughtfully landscaped place of remembrance, the Tomb will ensure that veterans who might otherwise remain unclaimed are given something every person who served our nation deserves: a permanent place of honor, a final resting place, and the promise that they will not be forgotten.
Be a Benefactor of the Veterans Honor Garden
Help Build a Permanent Place of Honor
Become a benefactor of the Veterans Honor Garden at Historic Lutz Cemetery and help create a permanent place of remembrance for veterans who might otherwise remain unclaimed. Funds raised through the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran Foundation will support the development of the Veterans Honor Garden and the construction of the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran—a communal cremation ossuary crowned by an Eternal Flame and dedicated to ensuring that every veteran entrusted to its care receives a dignified final resting place.
Historic Lutz Cemetery is donating the land for the Garden and Tomb, providing perpetual grounds care for the designated area, and waiving HLC cemetery inurnment fees for veterans placed within the Tomb. Your benefactor support helps the Foundation turn this vision into a lasting place of honor.
Benefactor contributions for the development of the Veterans Honor Garden and Tomb of the Unknown Veteran are raised through the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran Foundation.
Veterans Honor Garden
Preliminary Project Budget
The following costs are preliminary estimates developed for planning and fundraising purposes. Final costs will be determined through architectural and engineering plans, contractor proposals, material selections, permitting requirements, site conditions, and the availability of donated materials, professional services, and labor.
What the $850,000 Represents
The Veterans Honor Garden isn't simply a landscaping project. It is envisioned as a permanent veteran memorial, ceremonial space, place of inurnment, and community legacy project. The investment includes the infrastructure beneath the garden as well as the memorials and features visitors will ultimately see.
The completed project is envisioned to include the American flag, military service flags, POW/MIA and Florida flags; permanent veteran memorials; an Eternal Flame honoring the Unknown Veteran and those represented through the 81K Project; The Tomb of the Unknown Veteran; an Ossuary Structure; accessible walkways; memorial lighting; seating; gardens and landscaping; interpretive elements; and spaces where families and the community can gather to remember and honor those who served.
The Veterans Honor Garden represents an estimated $850,00 investment in the future of Historic Lutz Cemetery and in the veterans entrusted to our care. We hope to reach that goal through a combination of financial contributions, grants, sponsorships, memorial and columbaria funding, donated materials, professional services, in-kind contributions, volunteer support, and community partnerships. Every donated service or material brings us one step closer to completing the garden.
Interested in Being a Part of this Legacy?
Explore the different Sponsorship Opportunities for the Historic Lutz Cemetery Veterans Honor Garden.
Purchase Bricks for Patriots Way
Patriots’ Way — A Path of Honor
At the heart of the Veterans Honor Garden, Patriots’ Way will create a lasting pathway of remembrance. Engraved memorial bricks sponsored by individuals, families, businesses, and organizations will honor veterans, recognize military service, preserve meaningful dates and dedications, and allow members of the community to leave their own message of gratitude and remembrance.
More than a memorial walkway, Patriots’ Way will help care for the Veterans Honor Garden for generations to come. Proceeds from brick sponsorships will support the ongoing perpetual care of the Garden at Historic Lutz Cemetery, helping preserve the landscaping, memorial features, pathways, and surrounding grounds. Brick by brick, Patriots’ Way will become both a permanent tribute to those who served and a lasting commitment to ensuring this special place of honor is beautifully cared for into the future.
Order Your Brick Today
Click the link to order your custom-engraved stone for Patriots Way at Historic Lutz Cemetery. We appreciate your support and are so happy to have you on this journey to create something truly remarkable and deserving for our American heroes.
Your Gift Builds Their Legacy
The garden is being created entirely through donations and sponsorships, a community-led effort to ensure our heroes are remembered with the dignity they deserve.
Where Your Gift Goes
Your gift directly supports the construction and long-term care of the Veterans Honor Garden. Whether through a one-time donation or a named sponsorship, you help give these veterans the honor they earned and a final resting place of peace.
Supporting the Veterans Honor Garden
The Tomb of the Unknown Veteran and the development of the surrounding Veterans Honor Garden are supported through funds raised by the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran Foundation, a separate nonprofit organization established to advance the creation and mission of this special place of honor.
Patriots’ Way is a Historic Lutz Cemetery fundraiser with a different purpose. Proceeds from engraved brick sponsorships are dedicated to supporting the lifetime perpetual care of the Veterans Honor Garden after it is established. Through Patriots’ Way, families, businesses, organizations, and community members can leave a permanent tribute while helping Historic Lutz Cemetery preserve and care for the Garden for generations to come.
Two missions working together: one to build a lasting place of honor, and one to ensure it is cared for forever.
The Missing in America Project
For generations, they've waited. Unclaimed, forgotten.....
The Tomb of the Unknown Veteran is being created with a mission closely aligned with the work of the Missing in America Project (MIAP), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to locating, identifying, and securing a final resting place for the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans. Through the efforts of MIAP and organizations across the country, thousands of veterans who might otherwise have remained unclaimed have been identified and laid to rest with the honor and dignity their service deserves.
The Tomb of the Unknown Veteran will create another permanent place where qualifying unclaimed veterans may ultimately be brought home and laid to rest with dignity. Located within the Veterans Honor Garden at Historic Lutz Cemetery, the communal cremation ossuary is being designed specifically to provide a lasting place of honor for veterans who have no family or other appropriate final resting place available to receive them. The Tomb of the Unknown Veteran Foundation will support the development and mission of the Tomb, while Historic Lutz Cemetery is donating the land, providing perpetual grounds care, and waiving its cemetery inurnment fees for veterans placed within the Tomb.
Together, these efforts share a simple promise:
No Veteran Forgotten.
Building the Mission. Caring for It Forever.
Funds for the development of the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran and Veterans Honor Garden are raised through the Tomb of the Unknown Veteran Foundation. Patriots’ Way is a separate Historic Lutz Cemetery fundraiser dedicated to supporting the lifetime perpetual care of the Veterans Honor Garden.
The Missing in America Project Progress to Date
If you would like to support The Missing in American Project directly, please click this link for more information.