History: NCA History Blog
NCA historians blog about current events, cemeteries, preservation projects, headstones and monuments, Memorial Day, notable persons and much more. Read our latest blog posts or view the list below.
Featured Blog Post
LGBTQ+ Monument in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery
Matthew Harris
Intern, National Cemetery Administration
Published on November 6, 2024
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) monuments adorn cemeteries across the United States, but only two are in national cemeteries maintained by VA. At Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Ellwood, Illinois, a four-foot-tall monument bears witness to the honorable service of LGBTQ+ Veterans. A smaller monument in the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix recognizes all persons who have served their country with "courage and pride" throughout American history. VA encourages Veterans who were issued an administrative discharge for their sexuality to apply for an upgrade to the discharge and request the VA benefits they have earned through their service. Read more »
Memorial to LGBTQ+ Veterans dedicated in 2015 at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Ellwood, Illinois. The inverted pink triangle symbolizes remembrance, pride, and acceptance. The triangle is flanked by the seals of the five military branches and the U.S. Merchant Marine. (VA)Latest Blog Posts
French Cross at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn
NCA History Program
The 25 French sailors buried here are one of earlier instances of allied forces being buried in a national cemetery. It is also remarkable in that all of the sailors died from the same cause — they fell victim to the Spanish Flu which was sweeping the nation, and the world, in 1918–1919.
Emme Richards
Virtual Student Federal Service
Intern, VA History Office
Originally written to honor the Kentucky volunteers who died in the Mexican War (1846–1848), Theodore O'Hara's elegiac poem, "Bivouac of the Dead," now serves as a literary memorial to all lives lost in service to the nation.
USS Bennington Monument and Grave Plot
Richard Hulver, Ph.D.
NCA Historian
The USS Bennington explosion was among the deadliest peacetime accidents in U.S. Navy history and claimed more lives than the Navy had lost in the nation's most recent conflict, the Spanish-American War. A granite monument was established to honor those lost in the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
List of NCA History Blog Posts
| Blog Post | Date |
|---|---|
| NCA Historic Objects: Civil War 6×6 Unknown Grave Markers | August 31, 2023 |
| NCA Historic Objects: Edmund Whitman's 1869 Report on Reburying Union Dead in National Cemeteries | June 15, 2023 |
| NCA Historic Objects: The Veterans Legacy Memorial | May 23, 2023 |
| NCA Historic Objects: Congressional Cemetery Cenotaphs | May 11, 2023 |
| George Ford – Veteran and National Cemetery Superintendent | April 25, 2023 |
| NCA Historic Objects: Dorothea Dix's Monument to Union Soldiers | March 7, 2023 |
| NCA Historic Objects: Funeral Ceremony for Vietnam Unknown | February 3, 2023 |
| Blog Post | Date |
|---|---|
| Halyburton and Grimsley – Story of U.S.'s first POW in WWI | November 23, 2021 |
| Remembering the USS Indianapolis | November 15, 2021 |
| 1973 – When VA took over the National Cemetery System | November 12, 2021 |
| Exhibit – USCT Substitutes in the Border States, Buried in National Cemeteries | November 12, 2021 |
| John Pitzer and the journey to Loutre Island | November 12, 2021 |
| Lincoln and Grant in Lights: The Grand Army of the Republic's 1887 memorial stained-glass windows | November 1, 2021 |
| NCA Monuments Dedicated on Memorial Day | May 1, 2021 |
| The World's Most Intrepid Airman is a Woman: Remembering Katherine Stinson Otero | March 25, 2021 |
| Contrasting Lives: WWI Black Veterans Everett Johnson and Robert Chase | February 27, 2021 |
| Creating a Formidable Force: Colonel Dan T. Moore | February 26, 2021 |
| Trailblazers, Advocates, and the Anguished: Veteran Profiles of the 349th Field Artillery | February 25, 2021 |
