National Cemetery, a place where military personnel, veterans, and certain of their dependents are buried. In the United States, most of the national cemeteries are operated and maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Arlington and Soldiers' Home national cemeteries are administered by the Department of the Army. The army is also responsible for certain other burial grounds, including Confederate cemeteries. The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains overseas cemeteries. In addition, a number of national cemeteries are administered by the National Park Service.
Military personnel, veterans whose service ended honorably, and dependents may be buried without charge in any national cemetery in which space is available. (For a veteran buried in a private cemetery the Department of Veterans Affairs will provide a cash allowance for purchasing a plot.) Headstones and markers are provided free for all graves in national cemeteries and, on application, for the graves of military personnel and veterans buried in private cemeteries. Memorial plots are set aside in national cemeteries and memorial markers are furnished for those who died in the armed forces and whose remains were unrecoverable or unidentifiable.
Congress first authorized land for the creation of national cemeteries in 1862, during the Civil War. Acts of 1872, 1917, and 1923 expanded the government's role in honoring deceased veterans.
The American Battle Monuments Commission designed and erected memorials and monuments in the 8 World War I and 14 World War II cemeteries located on foreign soil. Each contains battle maps, historical data, and inscriptions of the names of the missing. Each of these overseas battlefield cemeteries has a nondenominational memorial chapel.
