Memorial Affairs

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.

The care and services VA provides to Veterans have improved over the years. This year, VA saw even more progress toward better serving Veterans. Here are five key ways VA is improving.

The Louisiana National Cemetery is adding 2,400 crypt spaces for casket burials; a cremation field with 300 burial sites; a committal shelter; an administration building/public information center; two memorial walls; four columbarium walls with 1,000 niches for above-ground cremation inurnments; and a main flag pole assembly area designed for ceremonies.

Thousands of volunteers laid wreaths at VA national cemeteries across the U.S. as part of National Wreaths Across America Day Dec. 14.

Dec. 13 is designated "National Day of the Horse" to highlight the contribution horses have made to the economy, history and character of the United States. 

Thousands of people attended Veterans Day events at 41 different cemeteries Nov. 8-11, held by the National Cemetery Administration.