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VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
On the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Association was given the highest score ever received by any goods and services organization that ACSI covers. And not for the first time. This recent rating marks the seventh time in a row that the cemetery association has come in first in a survey covering over 400 U.S. corporations providing everything from utilities, health care and insurance to restaurants, travel and manufacturing … and cemetery services.
That’s saying a lot. Given the nature of cemeteries in general and what they provide, for a cemetery association to be listed at the top of satisfaction surveys so many times is amazing, because there are many possible areas for unhappiness.
The VA’s National Cemetery Administration provides services to the families of veterans at 121 locations. These services include burial, headstones and markers, medallions, military honors and more. In one year alone, last year, the NCA buried over 145,000 veterans and family members.
To determine if a veteran is eligible for VA burial benefits, go to www.cem.va.gov. Look for information on types of discharge, applying for a burial allowance and services provided.
If you’ve lost a veteran, are you familiar with the Veterans Legacy Memorial? It’s a digital platform with over 4.5 million veterans listed where friends and families can post biographies, documents and photos of their veteran. Each individual bio includes branch of service, dates of birth and death, war period, rank and more. The profiles also can be emailed and posted to Facebook and Twitter.
(Unfortunately, Arlington National Cemetery is not included in this memorial.) To find the memorial, go to www.vlm.cem.va.gov.
If you are a veteran who might be eligible for burial in a national cemetery, consider planning in advance. Search for “Pre-need eligibility” on the www.cem.va.gov website.
An amusing note: While the NCA received a satisfaction score of 97%, the overall rate for all government agencies was 66%. The Department of the Treasury, of course, came in last.
© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.
