In the past 20 years, annual interments in national cemeteries have nearly doubled to over 70,000 per year and the rate of increase is projected to continue into the early part of the next century as our country’s population of military veterans grows older. Many of these cemeteries are at, or near, capacity and all existing national cemeteries are expected to be full by the year 2020. The cemeteries that are full, however, can still accept cremation burials or inurnment of cremains in columbaria. The NCS states that efforts are under way to acquire additional cemetery lands, adjacent to existing national cemeteries whenever possible.

One of the things of which veterans should be aware is that a burial site cannot be reserved. You can’t even apply for a site until the time of death. So it’s possible that the national cemetery closest to home might already be full and the veteran would be interred hundred of miles away. This potential problem can be compounded by overcrowding so that a spouse or other family members might not be buried next to the veteran.

Interment in a national cemetery is available to all members and veterans (if not dishonorably discharged) of the United States armed forces; spouses; widows and widowers who did not remarry; minor children; and- under certain conditions- unmarried adult children. Also eligible are members of the armed forces reserves who die while on active duty and training for, or performing in, the duties of the reserves or who have 20 years of service in the reserves.

While the NCS does not arrange for the funerals, it does offer a wide range of benefits at taxpayers’ expense including the opening and closing of the grave sites. Also provided are headstones or markers.

If the person is to be buried in a cemetery other than a national, military post, or state veterans’ cemetery, the headstone or marker must be applied for through the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) - formerly known as the Veterans Administration. In such instances, the headstone or maker will be shipped at government expense but the family must pay the cost of installation.

The VA will pay eligible recipients up to a $1500 burial allowance if the veteran’s death is service-related, and will pay the cost of shipping the remains to the national cemetery nearest the veteran’s home. The VA will pay $300 for funeral and burial expenses for those veterans who were eligible to receive pension or compensation at the time of death. Also the VA will pay $150 for a burial plot when the veteran is not buried in a cemetery that’s under the jurisdiction of the United States government.