National Cemetery Administration
Oakdale Cemetery Soldiers' Lot
Visitation Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
This soldiers' lot is closed to interments.
Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.
A Veteran's spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the Veteran.
Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.
From the Quad-Cities Airport: Take Interstate 74 West (See Note below). After crossing the Mississippi River, take the Locust Street/Middle Road exit. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
From the West: Follow Interstate 80 East to Interstate 74 East. Take Interstate 74 East to the Locust Street/Middle Road exit. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
From the East: Take Interstate 74 West until the Locust Street exit. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
From the North: Take Interstate 80 West which intersects with Interstate 74. Follow Interstate 74 East to Locust Street. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
Note: Although Interstate 74 is labeled on Highway signs as being Interstate 74 East and Interstate 74 West, the road is actually North-South through the Quad-Cities.
Fax all discharge documentation to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417 and follow-up with a phone call to 1-800-535-1117.
For information on scheduled burials in our national cemeteries, please go to the Daily Burial Schedule.
The private and community cemeteries that contain NCA soldiers' and government lots, and Confederate cemeteries, do not always have staffed offices on site. When administrative information for the larger cemetery is available, it is provided below.
Oakdale Memorial Gardens
Phone: 563-324-5121
Website: https://oakdalememorialgardens.org
NOTE: Link will take you outside the VA website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked website.
This soldiers' lot is overseen by Rock Island National Cemetery.
Please contact the national cemetery for more information.
For educational materials and additional information on this cemetery, please visit the Education section, located below.
Cemetery policies are conspicuously posted and readily visible to the public.
Floral arrangements accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed grave. They will be removed when they become unsightly or when it becomes necessary to facilitate cemetery operations such as mowing.
Flowers and containers: Fresh cut flowers may be placed on the gravesite at any time. Temporary flower containers are provided for your convenience and are the property of the cemetery. Please do not remove these containers from the cemetery grounds. Under no circumstances will items be tied, wired, glued, or otherwise attached to the headstone or marker. Permanent flower containers are no longer permitted.
Artificial flowers: Artificial flowers will be permitted on the gravesite during the period of November 1 through March 31. Christmas Decorations, wreaths, grave blankets (no larger than three feet by five feet), etc., are permitted from Thanksgiving through March 1. Decorations removed from the gravesites will be discarded 30 days after the pick up date.
Potted plants: Not allowed to be placed at the gravesite at any time.
Unauthorized decorations: The following items are not permitted on the gravesite: Potted plants (except as above), statues, permanent plantings, vigil lights, breakable items (i.e., glass/ceramic vases), balloons, toys, stuffed animals, shepherd's hooks or similar devices, U. S. Flags (except on Memorial Day weekend), other similar commemorative items or markers, and items degrading to the country.
Perpetual care: Guidelines provide for grounds maintenance, cutting the grass and trimming around the headstones/markers, and all areas of the cemetery on a weekly basis. This includes the removal and disposal of unauthorized grave decorations and artificial arrangements (except during periods specified above). Fresh cut floral arrangements will be removed from the gravesite and disposed of by cemetery personnel when they become withered, faded, or otherwise unsightly. Any decorations or floral items that have been displaced from the gravesites, due to wind or other factors out of our control, will be removed from the graves, held for 30 days and disposed of by cemetery personnel.
VA regulations 38 CFR 1.218 prohibit the carrying of firearms (either openly or concealed), explosives or other dangerous or deadly weapons while on VA property, except for official purposes, such as military funeral honors.
Possession of firearms on any property under the charge and control of VA is prohibited. Offenders may be subject to a fine, removal from the premises, or arrest.
Oakdale Cemetery was incorporated on May 14, 1856, in Davenport, Iowa, by a group of local businessmen. The original 40-acre plot has grown over time, and today the cemetery is composed of 78.3 acres. Jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke, who grew up in Davenport, is among the prominent local citizens interred in the cemetery.
The soldiers' lot is located in Lot 14 of Oakdale Memorial Gardens, as the cemetery is known today. Originally, soldiers were interred in multiple areas of the cemetery, before the burials were consolidated into the soldiers' lot. As of December 1865, 174 Civil War soldiers were buried in the soldiers' lot.
Around 1888, roughly 160 remains in Oakdale Cemetery were removed to Rock Island and Keokuk National Cemeteries. In 1900, the remaining interments were consolidated into the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) plot within the cemetery, the location of all subsequent government burials. In 1940, the GAR conveyed all interests in the plot to the Oakdale Cemetery Association, and the United States acquired the lot in 1941. Today, interments within the soldiers' lot include 71 Civil War dead, seven of whom were killed during the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, and were the first Iowan casualties of the Civil War.
Under Development.
More than half of VA's national cemeteries originated with the Civil War and many are closed to some burials. Other sites were established to serve World War veterans and they continue to expand. Historic themes related with NCA's cemeteries and soldiers' lots vary, but visitors should understand "Why is it here?" NCA began by installing interpretive signs, or waysides, at more than 100 properties to observe the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011–2015). Please follow the links below to see the interpretive signs for Oakdale Soldiers' Lot.
Visit the Veterans Legacy Program and NCA History Program for additional information. Thank you for your interest.
