National Cemetery Administration

More than 4.7 million Americans served in the U.S. armed forces in World War I and almost all became eligible after the war for burial in a national cemetery or to receive a government headstone in a private cemetery.

In early 1880, a journalist visited the monumental National Cemetery Gateway Arch at Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee as it was nearing completion. He came away impressed.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 transformed ordinary life for most Americans. Within VA, the National Cemetery Administration made the difficult decision to suspend funeral services to protect visitors and staff. Calverton National Cemetery in New York—an early pandemic epicenter—held a special service. On July 8, 2021, the cemetery presented a casket flag during a single solemn ceremony in which 849 Veterans belatedly received military honors.

The National Cemetery Administration serves as the steward for government and military lots at select private cemeteries nationwide. The Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., is home to the Washington Arsenal Monument, which honors the women who died in an explosion at the arsenal during the Civil War.

National cemeteries originated out of necessity during the American Civil War. In the summer of 1862, as casualties mounted at an alarming rate, Congress empowered President Abraham Lincoln to purchase and enclose burial plots as national cemeteries to inter the growing number of Union dead. These cemeteries were managed by superintendents, some disabled Civil War Veterans. To house them, Brig. Gen. Montgomery Meigs came up with what was later named the "Meigs Plan," the design for permanent lodges to house the superintendents.

Nine individuals in U.S. history have obtained the five-star general officer rank, all but one directly on account of their World War II service. Only one of this select group, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, is interred in a VA national cemetery.

A Togus time capsule filled with objects and historical materials provides a snapshot of a particular time and place. This capsule was found on the Togus National Cemetery in Maine while masons were working on a monument.

President Abraham Lincoln’s famed 272-word Gettysburg Address, cast in iron tablets, was placed in national cemeteries in 1909 as part of a nationwide birthday centennial program. When the popular president, born February 12, was honored again in 2009, NCA began to produce more tablets to ensure the speech is in all new national cemeteries.

National cemeteries played a role in the repatriation process for servicemembers who died outside of the United States during the two world wars.

The first permanent informational plaques placed in national cemeteries after the Civil War were affixed to upright cannons to brand these sites as a shrine to Union dead. These bronze shield plaques were installed after a 1872 report and served as early monuments to Union dead from the Civil War at national cemeteries.

On July 13, 1895, renowned suffragist and social activist Susan B. Anthony visited Fort Scott National Cemetery, Kansas. Sitting on a table within the cemetery superintendent's lodge was a leather-bound visitor register, which she signed.

After a night raid by German forces on Nov. 2, 1917, a group of U.S. soldiers became the first group taken prisoner in WWI. These POWs included Sgt. Edgar Halyburton and Pvt. Clyde Grimsley, and each suffered the privations that occurred in early 20th Century imprisonment.