How to Find Out About a Tombstone for an Army Vet
If a member of your family dies and he is an army veteran, you may want him to be interred in one of the national military cemeteries, or have a headstone that is appropriate to his military service, or both. To find out about burials and tombstones for army veterans, the best organization to approach is the United States Department Of Veterans Affairs. Your relative doesn't have to have died during service to be eligible for a military tombstone. Moreover, as well as being entitled to have important military insignia and achievements recorded on the headstone, an official military headstone is provided free of charge.
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Instructions
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Check your army veteran's eligibility for an official military headstone by looking at the requirements on the Department Of Veterans Affairs website.
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Decide whether you want to bury your relative in an official veterans' cemetery or in a private graveyard. Check the Interment.net website if you want to find the locations of veterans' national cemeteries.
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Inform the cemetery official of the veterans' cemetery of your choice, if that is your decision. She will order the headstone, or marker, for you. You will need to give her information for the inscription.
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Ask your funeral director to obtain and fill out the necessary form for a government headstone if you are burying your relative privately. You can also do it yourself if you feel up to it. The form required is the Veterans Affairs form 40-1330, which is called "Application for Standard Government Headstone or Marker." Download it from the Department of Veterans Affairs website. If you do not have Internet access you, your funeral director or other representative can call the Department of Veterans Affairs and they will send you a copy.
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Send a copy of your relative's army discharge documents, by mail or fax, along with the application form. If you don't have a discharge certificate, you will find a list of documentation that is accepted as proof of eligibility on the VA website.
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Find out which religious emblems are available for your relative to have on his tombstone by referring to the VA website. A representation of each available emblem is displayed. Under certain circumstances it is also possible to have a medallion attached to a private headstone to acknowledge your loved one's status as a veteran.
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Consult the VA website even if your army veteran relative is already buried privately and you have since decided you would like a government military headstone.
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References
Resources
- U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs: Eligibility for a Headstone or Marker
- Interment.net: National Cemeteries
- U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs: Veterans Military Discharge Documents
- U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs: Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers
- Photo Credit arlington cemetary image by Dwight Davis from Fotolia.com
