This November for Veterans Month, the National Cemetery Administration is embarking on the largest expansion of the number of Veterans’ pages for its award-winning website, the Veterans Legacy Memorial, since its inception in May 2019. By adding nearly 5 million pages of Veterans interred in private and other non-VA cemeteries who received a NCA-provided headstone, marker or medallion, VLM will host nearly 10 million total Veteran pages.
First launched in 2019, VLM is an interactive online platform comprised of more than 4.85 million individual Veteran profile pages. These pages display military information (service branch, rank, war period, decorations) and resting place details (cemetery name, clickable map, gravesite, interment date), and it allows family members, friends and others to upload a variety of content. People can submit tributes, biographies, photos and documents; create a word cloud that describes a Veteran, and develop a timeline of military and personal achievements. To date, more than 73,000 pieces of content live forever on Veteran pages.
Veterans laid to rest since the VA marker ordering database was created in 1996 are part of the expansion that includes:
- More than 80,000 additional pages from interments in state, tribal and territory Veteran cemeteries
- More than 4,000 pages from interments in 86 foreign countries
- More than 1,000 additional pages from interments in National Park Service-managed cemeteries.
The NCA marker-ordering system automatically generates a VLM page when a Veteran’s eligibility has been confirmed and the order placed by NCA staff.
New VLM pages include:
- Charity Adams Earley, commander of the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion from WWII, recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal in 2022, interred at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/CHARITYADAMSEARLEY/53251D
- Marie Edmee LeRoux Sebastien, member of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Telephone Operators “Hello Girls” from WWI, interred at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Maryland. Until recently, she was buried in an unmarked grave. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/MEDMEELEROUXSEBASTIEN/559F47
- Arthur Raymond Lewis, U.S. Merchant Marine from WWII, is interred at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. Lewis died at sea aboard the S.S. Steel Vendor in the Gulf of Tadjoura. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/ARTHURRAYMONDLEWIS/5000D6
- David Crockett served as a first lieutenant in Headquarters Company, 355th Labor Battalion, Quartermaster Corps, United States Army. Crockett is interred at Gettysburg National Military Park. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/DAVIDHCROCKETT/4B974D
Visit www.va.gov/remember, find your Veteran or choose another who has been laid to rest at a cemetery near you, and provide them a lasting memory to help keep their legacy alive.
For information about VA burial benefits, visit one of VA’s National Cemetery Locations in-person, visit online at VA burial benefits and memorial items, or call toll free at 800-827-1000. To plan ahead for you and your family, visit NCA’s pre-need eligibility website.
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How do I get my late husband and brother added to the VLM website? They’re buried in private cemetery’s and I would like to be on the list.
Hi Belinda — please contact vlm@va.gov to provide some specific so the VLM team can do some research and provide and answer for you. We are grateful to your husband’s and brother’s service!
Every single VLM listing for Mount Peace Cemetery in St. Cloud, FL, shows the wrong street address and/or wrong phone number. Can the cemetery information be corrected?
The correct street address & phone number for Mount Peace Cemetery can be found on the City of St. Cloud, FL, website:
https://www.stcloudfl.gov/1628/Mount-Peace-Cemetery
Larisa — thanks so much for the feedback and for the correct information. We’ll get it corrected as soon as possible — probably next week, but if you haven’t see the correction by end of November, please ping vlm@va.gov and ask for an update. Thanks!
How does one add a veteran’s name to this listing? My father was a US Army veteran who served in the 1950’s, died in 1981, and I would like to have his name added. He was buried in a private cemetery with a military headstone/gravemarker. How can I get his name listed on this VLM site?
Hello Julie — thanks so much for the question and for your father’s Army service. The database that feeds VLM from private cemeteries only goes back to 1996, but we are already discussing what we can do from an IT perspective to add those Veterans interred in private cemeteries with VA-provided markers prior to 1996, because every Veteran deserves a VLM page no matter where (or when) they were laid to rest.
My grandfather and my great aunt are in Arlington most of my family worked for the government with many veterans in my family or maybe more there I was born in Arlington
John — appreciate you asking about your grandfather and great Aunt! We do have Arlington National Cemetery in VLM, so please email vlm@va.gov and provide some specifics so the VLM can do some research.
For “David Crocket” it states:
Not Available – Feb 19, 1919
Hi Matt — thanks for inquiring about this Veteran interred at Gettysburg National Military Park. Some Veteran records are missing information, in this case it’s his Date of Birth. If you have information on his DOB, please contact vlm@va.gov.