VA adds nearly 5 million Veterans and service members from private cemeteries to the Veterans Legacy Memorial

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that nearly 5 million Veterans and service members have been added to the Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) — the nation’s first digital platform dedicated to the memory of Veterans and service members.

With this expansion, nearly 10 million of the nation’s heroes now have individual pages on VLM — allowing family, friends, and others to post tributes, upload images and documents, and commemorate them. More than 72,000 tributes have been posted to Veterans’ profile pages since the site launched in 2019.

The VLM now honors the memory of Veterans interred in VA’s national cemeteries, VA-grant funded cemeteries, 27 Department of Defense-managed cemeteries, two National Park Service national cemeteries, and thousands of private and other non-VA cemeteries. 

“The Veterans Legacy Memorial gives all of us a way to pay tribute to our nation’s Veterans and service members, long after they’re gone,” said Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Matt Quinn. “We encourage all Americans to visit VA.gov/Remember and help commemorate these heroes who honorably served our nation.” 

“VLM gives me an opportunity to upload our personal pictures and to tell stories,” said Linda Monroe, who regularly pays tribute to her late husband and Vietnam Veteran Robert Wayne Monroe on VLM. “I tend to post once a month. I post on the anniversary when he passed away and days that are important to me.”

The new Veterans and service members added to VLM are those who were interred in private and other non-VA cemeteries and received a National Cemetery Administration (NCA)-provided headstone, marker, or medallion since 1996. All content submitted to VLM is reviewed by NCA moderators before being publicly shared to a Veteran’s page to ensure content conforms to VLM User Policy. 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of VA’s NCA, which manages VLM. Since 1973, NCA has ensured that Veterans, service members, and their families are honored with a final resting place that pays tribute to their service. Nearly 5.3 million people — including 4 million Veterans from the Revolutionary War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — are buried in VA national cemeteries.

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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