As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. C. R. No. 27

2025-2026

Representative Johnson

A c o n c u r r e n t R E S O L U T I O N

To support the use of state owned land in Chillicothe for a new Veterans Administration National cemetery.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE SENATE CONCURRING):

WHEREAS, In 1917, following the United States entry into World War I, Chillicothe, Ohio, was selected as the site for training soldiers from Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The camp was named Camp Sherman in honor of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman who hailed from nearby Lancaster. It would become the third largest training center in the United States with over 40,000 soldiers stationed there; and

WHEREAS, Camp Sherman consisted of over 2,000 buildings, including the camp hospital complex, which contained over 50 buildings with a capacity of over 1,800 patients; and

WHEREAS, Following the war, some buildings were transferred from the Army to the Veterans Bureau, and Chillicothe became the site of the first hospital operated by the Veterans Bureau; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Veterans Affairs currently operates the Chillicothe VA Medical Center; and

WHEREAS, Land owned by the State of Ohio, to the north and to the west of the Veterans Administration facility in Chillicothe, promises to be a suitable and appropriate location for a veterans cemetery; and

WHEREAS, The National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs currently maintains and operates 156 national cemeteries; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 136th General Assembly of the State of Ohio support the use of state-owned land in Chillicothe for a new national cemetery site; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the Governor, to the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to the members of the Advisory Committee on Cemeteries and Memorials (ACCM) of the National Cemetery Association, and to the news media of Ohio.