A first-of-its-kind digital memorial produced by the VA will allow people to learn about the service of millions of deceased veterans, dating back to the Revolutionary War.
The Veterans Legacy Memorial, which launched in August, is a searchable online database of about 3.7 million deceased veterans. The database was compiled with records from the VA’s National Cemetery Administration (NCA) as a way to preserve information about veterans, as well as provide a memorial for people to visit despite geographic or physical limitations.
“Veterans Legacy Memorial ensures ‘no veteran ever dies’ by honoring the legacy of our national’s veterans, not just in our cemeteries, but in a new and innovative digital setting,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a news release about the project. “It enhances the onsite national cemetery experience and extends the experience to those who otherwise are unable to physically visit the cemetery.”
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Each veteran will have a memorial page in the database. The memorial page includes information about the veteran’s service, war period, rank, and location of burial obtained from NCA records. The database includes information only about the veteran, not the spouse or other family members buried alongside.
The database does not include information on every veteran buried at a national cemetery; Information on veterans buried in Arlington National Cemetery can be found here, while information on veterans interred in a cemetery managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission can be found here.
In addition to keeping records, the NCA works with universities and nonprofit groups to research and gather information. Among those partners are the University of Central Florida and the University of California-Riverside.
Plans call for website updates that would allow family members, survivors, and fellow veterans to add historic photos and share memories on veterans’ pages. For more about the digital memorial and how to find or update a veteran’s information, visit the site’s Frequently Asked Questions page.
Amanda Dolasinski is MOAA’s staff writer. She can be reached at amandad@moaa.org. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMOAA.
