Memorial Affairs

VA's National Cemetery Administration (NCA) launched its new “Find A Veteran, Post A Tribute” campaign. The effort intends to increase awareness of the Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) – the nation’s first digital platform dedicated entirely to memorializing more than 3.7 million Veterans interred in VA’s national cemeteries.

Volunteers are returning to national cemeteries under certain circumstances, following strict COVID-19 guidance. More than 40 volunteers displayed the new policies during an event Sept. 19 at Culpeper National Cemetery in Virginia. A group from a local Latter-day Saints church cleaned headstones while wearing masks and practicing social distancing.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz decided that, in death, he wanted to join his men at Golden Gate with a standard military funeral and regulation headstone. He took steps to assure that the shipmates closest to him during World War II could join him.

Shortly after completing a top-secret delivery of atomic bomb components to Tinian, the USS Indianapolis was struck by torpedo and sank 75 years ago today.

Preserving the legacy of Veterans who lay in unmarked gravesites happens all across the country. In fact, anyone can request a burial headstone or marker if the service of the Veteran ended prior to April 6, 1917.

The Veterans Legacy Memorial website is the nation’s first digital platform dedicated entirely to the memory of the 3.7 million Veterans interred in VA national cemeteries.

VA is partnering with Carry The Load for a national virtual relay to honor our fallen during their 9th annual Memorial May campaign.

The Hello Girls were female telephone operators during WWI. This is their 60-year battle for federal recognition of their wartime contribution.

Our National Cemeteries are stepping up to the challenge of providing service through the pandemic. While we are observant of social distancing and realize the challenges in this environment, we still have a vital service to provide. Our NCA staff members continue our mission to provide an honorable burial service for our Veterans and other eligible members. 

All VA national cemeteries are open and will continue to provide interments for Veterans and eligible individuals. However, effective March 23 — as part of the agency’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) — committal services and the rendering of military funeral honors will discontinue until further notice.

Jo Ann K. Webb’s service as an Army nurse in Vietnam led to a career centered on Veteran-health policy and politics. In 1989, at age 41 with a slim portfolio, she was named Director of the National Cemetery System (now Administration). Webb became the highest-ranking woman at the Veterans Administration for two years, and one of only two women to head the organization. In an oral history interview made for Women’s History Month, Webb didn’t recall that her lofty position was a big deal at the time--but it was.

The Presidential Memorial Certificate (PMC) is a signature memento the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) provides to next of kin and friends of deceased veterans, and it was the idea of World War II Army veteran Benjamin B. Belfer, who was born on January 21, 1909.