VeteranCemeteries.com does not host burial records. The records are kept by the agencies that run the cemeteries, and each agency has its own search. This guide explains which one to use.
Start with the VA’s Nationwide Gravesite Locator
The Nationwide Gravesite Locator is the VA’s official search. According to the VA, it covers burials in VA national cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, and various other military and Department of the Interior cemeteries, and it also includes veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government headstone or marker.
You will need at least a last name. A first name, and a year of birth or death, narrow the results. If you know the cemetery, you can limit the search to it.
If the search returns nothing
- Try fewer details. Search on the last name alone, and try alternate spellings. Records were keyed from paper, and names are sometimes recorded differently from how the family spells them.
- Consider a private cemetery. The VA states that its information on burials in private cemeteries was collected for the purpose of furnishing government grave markers, and that it has no information for such burials before 1997. A veteran buried in a private cemetery under a privately purchased headstone may not appear at all.
- Consider another system. Arlington National Cemetery and overseas cemeteries keep their own records; see below.
- Call the cemetery. If you know or suspect which cemetery it is, the office can usually confirm a burial and give the section and grave number.
Veterans Legacy Memorial
The VA’s Veterans Legacy Memorial gives each veteran in its records an individual memorial page, showing the service and burial information the VA holds. Families and others can submit tributes and photographs, which the VA moderates. It is a good second place to look once you have found a name in the gravesite locator.
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington is run by the Department of the Army, not the VA. Arlington’s own app, ANC Explorer, locates graves within the cemetery; it is linked from the Find a Grave page of the Arlington website and also works in a desktop browser.
Burials and memorials overseas
Americans buried in, or commemorated at, the permanent overseas military cemeteries are recorded by the American Battle Monuments Commission, which offers a burial search on its website. Many of those named there are listed on Walls of the Missing rather than buried in a grave.
When you have no idea where to begin
A veteran’s service record can confirm service dates and sometimes points to a place of burial. Next of kin can request records from the National Personnel Records Center, part of the National Archives. See our guide to official military burial records.
A caution about buried, memorialized and marked
A name on a marker does not always mean a burial at that spot. Cemeteries also hold memorial markers for people whose remains were not recovered or are elsewhere. When a record matters — for family history, or for a visit — confirm the details with the cemetery office.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator.
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. Veterans Legacy Memorial.
- U.S. Army. Arlington National Cemetery.
- ABMC. American Battle Monuments Commission.
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Request Military Service Records.