Burial at a National Cemetery

No one wants to think about it, but have you made your final plans? Have you put them in writing for those you leave behind so they’ll know what your wishes are once you pass away? There are steps you can take now to make it easier on them when the time comes.

First, determine whether you’re eligible for burial in a Department of Veterans Affairs national cemetery. If you’re uncertain, go to va.gov/ burials-memorials and click on “Eligibility” toward the middle of the page. Gather up your required documents — you’ll need several, including DD-214 — and submit them with your application for a preneed determination (VA Form 40-10007), which means the question of eligibility will be resolved beforehand. Choose a VA national cemetery. If you need help filling out the paperwork, call them at 800535-1117.

Then be sure your loved ones know you’ve taken the pre-approval steps and where your documents will be kept.

Be sure your final paperwork includes information for the Veterans Legacy Memorial website (www.vlm.cem. va.gov). The VLM currently has 4.5 million veterans memorialized. (For some unexplainable reason, this does not include veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and we’d love to know why.) Information on each veteran includes name, dates of birth and death, rank, war period, decorations and more. Friends and family are allowed to upload images, a bio, stories and any historical documents.

In your stash of documents you might include a favorite photo or two that you’d like to have added to the VLM later. There’s even a “Follow A Veteran” feature to send email alerts if any additional content is added to a veteran’s listing. The listing for a veteran is done the day of interment, and listings go back to the Revolutionary War.

As a note: Only veterans are listed in the VLM. Spouses buried with the veteran are not included.

For help accessing the VLM site and uploading documents or photos, call them at 866245-1490.