WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking volunteers to research and photograph monuments in its 120 national cemeteries and 33 soldiers’ lots.
“We have a large number of cemetery memorials, large and small, remaining to be inventoried,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. “The efforts of dedicated volunteers will assist VA in maintaining all national cemeteries as national shrines.”
When VA’s memorials inventory project began in May 2002, it was estimated that 300 memorials would be found in national cemeteries and soldiers’ lots. To date, nearly 800 memorials have been identified with help from over 220 volunteers. Approximately 300 memorials in 20 states remain to be documented and VA will continue to recruit volunteers for the project until all are documented.
VA provides volunteers with project instructions, survey questionnaires and film. Volunteers take measurements and photographs, record inscriptions, make notes on a monument’s condition and conduct historical research. The project has attracted a wide range of people, including students, teachers, scout groups, active and retired military members, scholars, history professionals and enthusiasts. The information obtained from the project will be made available to the public through the Smithsonian Institute’s art inventory database.
VA is now in the largest expansion of the national cemetery system since the Civil War. Three national cemeteries have opened since 2000, and five more national cemeteries are now being built.
For additional information about the project or to volunteer, please contact historian Darlene Richardson at (202) 565-5426 or email nca.memorials@mail.va.gov.
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