Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 02/11/2002

Dear Sgt. Shaft,
I'm writing this for my dad. He is a veteran of WWII and the Korean War. He would like to know if he and my mother are eligible to be buried in a veteran cemetery and if so how much would it cost. They live in Rockville, Md. Please reply ASAP as Daddy is not well and this is a great worry to him.

Thank you.
Denise @ the Internet

Dear Denise:
Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces and veterans who have met minimum active service duty requirements and have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. Their spouse, unremarried widow or widower, minor children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children, are also eligible for burial. Eligible spouses 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 while performing training duty, or who have 20 years of service in reserve components of the Armed Forces creditable to retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.

Burial benefits include a gravesite in any of the national cemeteries with available space, the opening and closing of the grave, a Government headstone or marker, a burial flag and a Presidential Memorial Certificate, at no cost to the family. VA's Veterans Benefits Administration pays a burial and plot allowance to those veterans eligible by law. The VA's National Cemetery Administration provide headstones and markers for the unmarked graves of veterans in private and Government cemeteries around the world and for eligible dependents of veterans buried in national, post, or state veterans cemeteries. The stone can be inscribed with the name of the deceased, the dates of birth and death and branch of service, and other approved optional text inscribed at government expense if space allows.

When arranging a burial, the next of kin or family's funeral director may make arrangements directly with a national cemetery. Cemetery staff must first verify the veteran's eligibility. To do this, the next of kin must provide the cemetery staff with a copy of the veteran's properly signed discharge papers, or the veteran's service, social security, and VA claim numbers to use for verification of service and character of discharge.

A Presidential Memorial Certificate inscribed with the veteran's name honors the memory of honorably discharged, deceased veterans. Eligible recipients include next of kin and loves ones. The VA provides a U.S. flag to drape the casket. Following the funeral service, the flag may be given to the next of kin or a close associate of the deceased. The next of kin may donate the flag to a national cemetery for its Avenue of Flags program.

Some key statistics about the VA's network of national cemeteries:

• The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, through its National Cemetery Administration, maintains more than 2.3 million gravesites at 119 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, as well as in 33 soldier's lots and monument sites.
• The nation's most famous national cemetery -- Arlington National Cemetery -- is one of the few not run by the VA. It is administered by the Army.
• More than 319,000 full-casket gravesites, 53,700 in-ground gravesites for cremated remains and 19,500 columbarium niches are available in VA national cemeteries.
• There are approximately 13,400 acres of land within operational national cemeteries. About half are undeveloped and have the potential to provide more than 2.9 million gravesites.
• Of the 119 national cemeteries, 61 are open to all interments; 27 can accommodate cremated remains and family members of those already interred; and 31 are closed to new interments but accommodate family members in already occupied gravesites.
• Since 1973, annual interments in VA national cemeteries have increased from 36,400 to more than 82,700. Interments are expected to peak at more than 109,000 annually in 2008.
• Seventy-four percent of interments in Fiscal Year 2000 were in the 20 busiest national cemeteries: Riverside (CA); Calverton (NY), Florida; Fort Snelling (MN); Jefferson Barracks (MO); Williamette (OR); Fort Sam Houston (TX); Fort Logan (CO); Fort Rosecrans (CA); National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona; Houston (TX); Massachusetts, San Juaquin Valley (CA), Long Island (NY); Tahoma (WA); Indiantown Gap (PA); Puerto Rico; Abraham Lincoln (IL); Santa FE (NM); and Fort Custer (MI).

For more information about burial benefits for eligible veterans and their families, please visit the National Cemetery Administration web page at www.cem.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 for information about burial eligibility or other VA benefits.

Shaft Kudos
A sad farewell to good friend Harold Russell, who passed away Tuesday, January 29, 2002. Harold was best known as an Academy Award winner for his work in the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives.” Harold, who volunteered as an instructor and demolitions expert during WWII, was demonstrating how to assemble explosives when a defective blasting cap cost him both hands. He later appeared in an Army documentary, “The Diary of a Sergeant,” which highlighted the rehabilitation of an amputee. His performance in “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) earned him two Academy Awards: best supporting actor as an amputee struggling to adjust to civilian life, and a second, special Award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans". He is the only actor ever to win two Oscars for the same role. He continued to help other veterans by organizing the World Veterans Federation, serving three terms as the National Commander of the AMVETS, and as chairman of the President Johnson’s Committee on Hiring the Handicapped. It is most fitting that the annual award presented by the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities is the Harold Russell Medal. Harold is survived by his wife, Betty, who runs the Harold Russell Institute in Cape Cod, Mass., a non-profit organization that specializes in finding jobs for people with disabilities. 

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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