The Department of Veterans Affairs offers bronze medallions to attach to existing, privately purchased headstones or markers, signifying a deceased’s status as a veteran.
The item can be furnished instead of a traditional government headstone or marker for veterans whose death occurred on or after Nov. 1, 1990, and whose grave in a private cemetery is marked with a privately purchased headstone or marker.
Under federal law, eligible veterans buried in a private cemetery are entitled to either a government-furnished grave marker or the new medallion, but not both. Veterans buried in a national or state veterans cemetery will receive a government headstone or marker of the standard design authorized at that cemetery.
Next of kin will receive the medallion, along with a kit that will allow the family or the staff of a private cemetery to affix the medallion to a headstone, grave marker, mausoleum or columbarium niche cover.
More information about VA-furnished headstones, markers and medallions can be found https://www.va.gov/burials-memorials/memorial-items/headstones-markers-medallions/.
Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a VA national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for all eligible veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a national cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a presidential memorial certificate and a government headstone or grave marker.
The VA operates 155 national cemeteries in 42 states and Puerto Rico and 34 soldiers’ lots and monument sites. More than 4 million Americans, including veterans of every war and conflict — from the Revolutionary War to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan — are buried in VA’s national cemeteries.
