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United States Military Cemetery Records

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Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Online Resources[edit | edit source]

Cemetery Records[edit | edit source]

National Cemetery Administration[edit | edit source]

National Cemetery Administration

Department of Veteran Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20422

This web site has administration news; national veterans cemetery addresses; information about burial, headstones, state veterans cemetery grant programs, and links to other sites for locating veterans; and military records.

A Nationwide Gravesite Locator is now available online from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It has burial records of veterans and their family members from VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, and other veterans cemeteries around the country. The site also provides links to maps of the cemeteries.

FamilySearch Catalog

Headstones and Markers[edit | edit source]

National Genealogical Society[edit | edit source]

  • Claire Prechtel-Kluskens.Headstone Records for US Military Veterans. Part I:Headstone Design NGS Magazine 39 #1 (January-March 2013): 30- 33. FS Library 973 D25ngs
  • Claire Prechtel-Kluskens.Headstone Records for US Military Veterans. Part II: Records for Headstones Requested from 1879 to 1925." NGS Magazine 39 #2 (April-June 2013): 32-35. FS Library 973 D25ngs
  • Clair Prechtel-Kluskens. Records of Burial Flags for Veterans." NGS Magazine 42 #4 (October-December 2016): 39-42. FS Library 973 D25ngs
  • John P. Deeben. Last Rites for the Honored Dead: Records of Military Burials in National Cemeteries. NGS Magazine (January-March 2011): 15-18. FS Library 973 D25ngs

Arlington National Cemetery[edit | edit source]

FamilySearch Catalog


Tomb of the Unknown Soldier


National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific[edit | edit source]

National Park Service[edit | edit source]

National Archives[edit | edit source]

National Archives Catalog[edit | edit source]

Selected Collections

War Department. Office of the Quartermaster General. Administrative History[edit | edit source]

Department of Defense[edit | edit source]

Department of Veterans Affairs[edit | edit source]

Veteran Grave Registration Records[edit | edit source]

Some states and counties have grave registration records that identify the graves of soldiers buried in local cemeteries. You can usually find these by contacting the state archives or state library or historical society. The FamilySearch Library has statewide veteran grave registrations for the following states:

The state military pages may also have more information for cemetery records for their respective states.

To find additional soldier burials and veteran grave registrations of cemetery records in the FamilySearch Catalog, look in the Place Search under:

[STATE] - CEMETERIES [STATE], [COUNTY], [CITY] - CEMETERIES

Below are additional selected collections:


Military Burials- FamilySearch Historical Records[edit | edit source]

Overseas Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

American Battle Monuments Commission website, was created in 1923 to maintain memorials in the U.S. and 24 foreign countries where American forces have served. They have the names of 124,913 World War I and World War II war dead and the names of 94,093 soldiers listed as missing in action or buried at sea from four wars: World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

The American Battle Monuments Commission includes information about the purpose, composition, and history of the commission; details about each overseas cemetery; and the names of persons buried at many of their cemeteries. A Search ABMC Burials database is available on the website. By selecting the name, you will be provided with a page on the decedent, showing the cemetery and location of grave and additional information.

The following publications can help you find overseas cemeteries:

For further information contact:

  • American Battle Monuments Commission
    Casimir Pulaski Building
    20 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
    Washington, D.C. 20314-0300
    Phone: 202-272-0533; 202-272-0532
  • Thomas H. Conner. War and Remembrance. The Story of the American Battle Monuments Commission. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2018.

National Archives Catalog

Cemetery Records by Conflict[edit | edit source]

Books and Manuscripts[edit | edit source]

The following book provides descriptions of national cemeteries, state veterans’ cemeteries, soldiers’ lots, and abandoned military cemeteries:

Additional Sources

National Genealogical Society

  • Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. Headstone records for US military veterans. Part I: Headstone design. NGS Magazine 39 #1 (January - March 2013): 30-33.
  • Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. Headstone records for US military veterans. Part II: Records for headstones requested from 1879 to 1925. NGS Magazine 39 #2 (April-June 2013):32-35.
  • John P. Deeben. Last rites for the honored dead: Records of military burials in national cemeteries. NGS Magazine 37 #1 (January-March 2011): 15-18.