Undated photo of Arlington National Cemetery, Va. An online Veterans Legacy Memorial operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs includes the names of services members interred at Arlington, the nation’s oldest national cemetery. (Arlington National Cemetery)
WASHINGTON — The names and legacies of nearly 5 million veterans and service members have been added to an online database operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, doubling the number of individuals whose military records and contributions are commemorated, the agency announced Thursday.
The Veterans Legacy Memorial, which was launched in 2019, is an interactive VA website that honors the men and women who served in the U.S. military, dating to the Revolutionary War.
“Keeping alive the legacy of veterans who have served is a personal mission,” said Matt Quinn, undersecretary for memorial affairs at the VA. “You see my grandfather, my father, my brother and three of my uncles are interred in veterans’ cemeteries. Their grave marker should not be the final remembrance.”
The newest addition of 5 million names to the site represents veterans and service members interred at private cemeteries across the country, the VA said.
The online memorial honors veterans and service members with individual web pages that users can visit to submit photos, post tributes and learn about their military service.
Service members at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, the nation’s oldest national cemetery, are among the veterans identified on the website.
The VA has used public databases to help identify service members and veterans and to provide background on their military records.
The platform includes names and military legacies of individuals interred in the VA’s national cemeteries, 27 cemeteries managed by the Defense Department, two National Park Service national cemeteries, and thousands of private and non-VA cemeteries, the VA said.
“The Veterans Legacy Memorial is my radio to heaven,” said Linda Monroe, wife of Vietnam veteran Bob Monroe, whose life and service is memorialized on the website.
Pages for each veteran include service branch, rank, war period, military record, honors and other public information.
The Veterans Legacy Memorial offers individual web pages for each U.S. service member, such as the page shown here for Vietnam veteran Bob Monroe. Users can post tributes and upload images. (Screenshot from va.gov/remember )
Linda Monroe has added photos of their children and grandchildren and posted memories about her husband’s life in the Marine Corps and her experiences as the wife of a service member.
More than 100 personal tributes from visitors are on Bob Monroe’s web page as well as recognition of his Purple Heart Award.
“It is important to me that his memory lives on, and VLM gives me that,” Linda Monroe said Tuesday during a VA news conference.
“The Veterans Legacy Memorial gives all of us a way to pay tribute to our nation’s veterans and service members, long after they’re gone,” Quinn said.
He said employees who operate the memorial site worked for several months to confirm the identity of the nearly 5 million individuals interred at private cemeteries so they could now add them to the website.
“Their family members, fellow veterans can access the personal pages of their loved ones and upload tributes, photographs and other mementos to help preserve their legacies,” Quinn said.
