National Cemetery Administration

The Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) is the nation's largest digital platform dedicated to the memory of more than 10 million Veterans and servicemembers interred in VA's national cemeteries; VA-funded state, tribal, and territory Veteran cemeteries; Department of Defense-managed cemeteries; American Battle Monument Commission cemeteries; National Park Service cemeteries; and private cemeteries within and outside the United States. Currently, VLM includes Veterans laid to rest in private cemeteries since 1996 who received a VA-provided headstone, flat marker, niche cover, or medallion.

This platform provides a place for Veterans, servicemembers, their families, survivors, and others to share memories, learn about Veterans, and engage in memorialization. If you would like to learn more about other VA offices or programs or if you have specific benefits questions, please visit our official website at https://www.va.gov.

Please read the User Policy Guidelines and Disclaimer. Submitting content for a Veteran profile page is not a requirement, but if you choose to do so, you acknowledge that you have read and will adhere to the User Policy.

Currently, VLM offers a digital memorial space for Veterans memorialized in VA's national cemeteries; VA-funded state, tribal, and territory Veteran cemeteries, Department of Defense-managed cemeteries; American Battle Monument Commission cemeteries; National Park Service cemeteries; and private cemeteries within and outside the United States. For private cemeteries, currently VLM includes Veterans interred since 1996 who received a VA-provided headstone, flat marker, niche cover, or medallion.

VLM only contains profile pages for Veterans, although headstone and marker images and user-submitted content displayed on their pages may include spouse or family member information.

To find information about the final resting place of spouses or family members interred in VA national cemeteries managed by NCA, the National Park Service, or VA grant-funded state, territory governments, or tribal governments, please visit https://www.cem.va.gov/nationwide-gravesite-locator/.

In the basic search, please type in your Veteran's last name. At least one letter must be entered for a last name and partial spelling will yield search results in groups of fifty with a "view more" button available.

To narrow your search you can choose to use other search or drop-down fields of your choice. Additional search fields can narrow your search. You can enter the Veteran's first name or, if known, a Year of Death. Filters can also be used to search by Service Branch, Country/State/Territory or Cemetery.

If you have more specific information about your Veteran, please try the Advanced Search function. Type in your Veteran's last name. At least one letter must be entered for a last name. Advanced Search provides additional options not found in the basic search for adding a first name, middle name, date of birth range, a date of death range, decorations, rank, etc.

Using the Advanced Search:
Click on "filter" and then
Click, "+ Add Filter"
Choose your filters
Click, "Apply Filter"

You can use VLM as a "Member" by clicking the Login button at the top right of the VLM home page. As a member, you can submit items to VLM without entering your name and email address each time. You can also "follow" Veterans when something is posted to their pages or "like" someone else's Tributes/Comments.

You can use VLM as a "Visitor" without logging in. However, you must enter your name and email address each time you submit something unless you click "remember me," and then VLM will keep your session active for 30 minutes. As a Visitor, you also can't "follow" Veteran pages or "like" someone else's Tributes/Comments.

Unfortunately, there may be a mistake in a Veteran's profile. For historic Veterans, this can be due to manual entry from old records; for Veterans of other periods, this can be due to an error in a form submitted to NCA. Whatever the reason, we want to make it right, and we may need your help.

For some historic Veterans, the profile may be incomplete. Each Veteran's profile reflects what we do know about the Veteran. For example, it is not uncommon for a Civil War soldier's profile to have only a last name and year of death. Times were different, and that may have been all that was known.

Not all VLM profile pages feature headstone/marker photos or maps at this time. NCA is still gathering this data from cemeteries for previous interments, and new interment photos and maps for VA National Cemeteries will populate only after the headstone/marker is in place.

NCA's Veterans Legacy Program (VLP) works with schools, universities, non-profit groups, and any organization who wants to share our mission to tell Veterans' stories. Please visit the VLP pages or email Veterans Legacy Program. We are always looking for new partners.

All Veteran information displayed on VLM comes from publicly available records. What you see in a Veteran's profile is the same information on that Veteran's headstone (name, year of birth, year of passing, branch of service, rank, and decorations). VLM is, in many ways, a digital cemetery.

VLM is a site designed by VA's National Cemetery Administration with high security standards; and is stored in a secure, VA-controlled environment.

NCA has taken every safeguard to prevent any commercial use of Veteran data, and commercial activity on VLM is prohibited. VLM is for the Veteran community and for those who want to join us in memorializing America's Veterans.

Please visit https://www.va.gov/burials-memorials/ to learn more about Burial and Memorial Benefits.

If you would like your Veteran who is interred in a private cemetery, but does not have a government furnished headstone, flat marker, or niche cover to obtain a memorial page, please request a medallion for your loved one's headstone. If your Veteran is found to be eligible for a medallion, a memorial page will be automatically created.

For a medallion to be placed on a privately purchased headstone or marker, fill out the Claim for Government Medallion for Placement in a Private Cemetery (VA Form 40-1330M).

The Your Story, Your Legacy (YSYL) feature offers the opportunity for Living Veterans to privately provide their own images, autobiographies, military and life timelines, and historical documents. When they pass away, if they are interred in a national or state/tribal/territory Veterans cemetery or receive a VA headstone or other memorial benefit, VA will display their content on their permanent publicly visible VLM memorial page. The YSYL feature is available to those Veterans who have been approved for pre-need eligibility for burial in a VA national cemetery.

Get started or find out more about YSYL »