Florida National Cemetery

Florida National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located near the city of Bushnell in Sumter County, Florida. It encompasses 512.9 acre, and began interments in 1988.

History
Florida National Cemetery is located in the Withlacoochee State Forest, approximately 50 mi north of Tampa. The forest was acquired by the federal government from private landowners between 1936 and 1939 under the provisions of the U.S. Land Resettlement Administration. The United States Forest Service managed the property until a lease-purchase agreement transferred it to the Florida Board of Forestry in 1958. Currently, Withlacoochee State Forest is the second-largest state forest in Florida, divided into eight distinct tracts of land.

In 1842, Congress encouraged settlement here by establishing the Armed Occupation Act. The law granted a patent for 160 acre to any man who kept a gun and ammunition, built a house, cultivated 5 acre of the land and remained there for at least five years. Settlers moved in to take advantage of the generous offer. The area contained abundant timber and suitable farmland, appealing attributes to frontiersmen. In 1845 Florida was granted statehood.

During the Civil War, a sugar mill on the Homosassa River supplied sugar to the Confederacy. A robust citrus-growing industry developed in the eastern part of the area and became a focus of intense economic expansion soon after the war.

In 1980, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it would establish a new national cemetery in Florida, its fourth. Two major locations for the cemetery were studied: property near the Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Withlacoochee State Forest. The Withlacoochee site, though more environmentally sensitive, was supported by government officials. In February 1983, the state transferred land to the VA for the development of a Florida National Cemetery. The first interment was in 1988.

A columbarium was opened in November, 2001 for cremated remains. In the twenty years the cemetery has been in operation, there have been over 97,000 interments.

Notable interments

 * Master Chief Petty Officer William R. Charette, Medal of Honor recipient for action in the Korean War.
 * Raymond Fernandez, aka "Hercules Hernandez", professional wrestler.
 * Scott Helvenston, film trainer-stuntman and former Navy SEAL.
 * Master Sergeant James R. Hendrix, Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of the Bulge.
 * Lieutenant Commander Mike Holovak, A U.S. Navy, skipper of PT Boat in the South Pacific credited with sinking nine Japanese ships; retired as a Lieutenant Commander.
 * Sergeant Major Franklin D. Miller, Medal of Honor recipient for action in the Vietnam War.
 * Major David Moniac, veteran of the Second Seminole War, first native American graduate of United States Military Academy.
 * Colonel Leonard T. Schroeder Jr., the first soldier ashore in the Normandy Landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944, during World War II.

Notable monuments
A carillon was constructed by the World War II AMVETS organization in an open area adjacent to the first administration building. It was dedicated on October 9, 1993. The cemetery contains a Memorial Pathway that in 2003 featured 47 plaques, statues, monuments, etc., honoring America’s soldiers from 20th-century conflicts.