	Introduction

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides a range of benefits and services to veterans who meet certain eligibility rules. Burial benefits are monetary and nonmonetary benefits that eligible veterans receive for their service in the Armed Forces. Veterans or active duty servicemembers eligible for nonmonetary burial benefits can be interred in national cemeteries and can receive government-furnished headstones or markers, and in their honor, the veteran's next of kin can receive presidential memorial certificates and burial flags. Their spouses or surviving spouses, minor children, and, under certain conditions, unmarried adult children may also be buried in national cemeteries. Monetary burial benefits are partial reimbursements that the eligible veteran's next of kin can receive for burial and funeral costs. National cemeteries, beginning as a result of Civil War casualties, have expanded to include 131 cemeteries, as well as 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites, under the VA's jurisdiction. This report focuses on burial benefits provided by the VA. Veterans' Burial Benefits

		Eligibility Requirements for Burial in a National Cemetery

Under current federal regulation, the following persons are eligible for burial in a VA national cemetery:
members of the U.S. Armed Forces who die while on active duty; veterans discharged under conditions other than dishonorable (with certain exceptions); U.S. citizens who served in the armed forces of a U.S. ally during a time of war (service must have been terminated honorably by death or otherwise); certain members of Reserve Components and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC); commissioned officers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; commissioned officers of the Regular or Reserve Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service; World War II merchant mariners; any Filipino veteran who was a U.S. citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence who was residing in the United States at the time of his or her death; spouse or surviving spouse of an eligible veteran; and minor and unmarried adult children of an eligible veteran. The allowance amount provided depends on whether the veteran's cause of death was service-connected, non-service-connected, or occurred in a VA facility. Eligibility

The veteran's next of kin is eligible for reimbursement if he or she paid for the veteran's burial or funeral and has not been reimbursed by another government agency or some other source, such as the deceased veteran's employer. National Cemeteries

		The History of National Cemeteries43

The development of national cemeteries began as a result of the increasing number of Civil War casualties. The National Cemetery Act of 1867, enacted on February 22, 1867, was the first major piece of legislation to provide funds and directives to national cemeteries.
Burial benefits are nonmonetary and monetary benefits that eligible veterans receive for their military service. Servicemembers and veterans have been provided nonmonetary burial benefits since the Civil War and monetary burial benefits since World War I.
Eligible veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces can be interred in national cemeteries and can receive government-furnished headstones or markers, and in their honor, next of kin can receive presidential memorial certificates and burial flags. Their spouses or surviving spouses, minor children, and, under certain conditions, unmarried adult children may also be buried in national cemeteries.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) burial allowances are partial reimbursements for eligible veterans' burial and funeral costs. The allowance amount provided depends on whether the veteran's death was service-connected, non-service-connected, or occurred in a VA facility. The veteran's next of kin is eligible for reimbursement if he or she paid for the veteran's burial or funeral and has not been reimbursed by another government agency or some other source, such as the deceased veteran's employer.
The development of national cemeteries began as a result of the increasing number of Civil War casualties. The National Cemetery Act of 1867 was the first major piece of legislation to provide funds for, and directives about, national cemeteries. Today, there are 131 national cemeteries, along with 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites, under the VA's jurisdiction.
This report provides a descriptive analysis of both nonmonetary and monetary burial benefits and national cemeteries. It addresses congressional and constituent issues (among other things), such as
who is eligible to receive burial benefits? who can be buried in a national cemetery? what plans does the VA have to build new or expand existing national cemeteries? and what benefits does the VA provide?
These issues may be of particular interest to Congress due to the aging of the veteran population, the changes to eligibility requirements, and recent VA report findings and recommendations related to the establishment of national cemeteries.