16 U.S.C. 1, 3, 9a, and 462(k); E.O. 6166, 6228 and 8428.
The regulations in this part apply to the national cemeteries administered by the National Park Service. These regulations supplement regulations found in parts 1-5 and 7 of this chapter and provide procedural guidance for the administration, operation and maintenance of these cemeteries.
National cemeteries are established as national shrines in tribute to the gallant dead who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States. Such areas are protected, managed and administered as suitable and dignified burial grounds and as significant cultural resources. As such, the authorization of activities that take place in national cemeteries is limited to those that are consistent with applicable legislation and that are compatible with maintaining the solemn commemorative and historic character of these areas.
The following definitions apply only to the regulations in this part:
Conducting a special event or demonstration, whether spontaneous or organized, is prohibited except for official commemorative events conducted for Memorial Day, Veterans Day and other dates designated by the superintendent as having special historic and commemorative significance to a particular national cemetery. Committal services are excluded from this restriction.
(a)
(b)
(2) The remains of a member of the Armed Forces who dies on active duty may be interred prior to receipt of a burial permit.
(3) The superintendent shall process a burial permit in accordance with VA Policy.
(c)
(2) The superintendent is responsible for the actual assignment of a gravesite.
(3) The superintendent may not accept a new gravesite reservation. A gravesite reservation granted in writing prior to the adoption of the one-gravesite-per-family-unit restriction shall be honored as long as the person remains eligible.
(d)
(2) The superintendent shall specify gravesite dimensions that conform to the historic design of the national cemetery.
(3) Expansion of a burial section is prohibited without the approval of the Regional Director.
(4) An interment is authorized only within a burial section; the superintendent may not authorize an interment within a memorial section.
(5) Cremated remains may be scattered in a national cemetery in conformance with the provisions of § 2.62 of this chapter and applicable State laws.
(6) Expansion of a national cemetery outside the confines of its historic enclosure is prohibited.
(a) Interment of an eligible person's remains is considered permanent. Disinterment and removal of remains are allowed only for the most compelling of reasons and may be accomplished only under the supervision of the superintendent.
(b) Except for a directed exhumation conducted pursuant to paragraph (f) of this section, a disinterment is allowed only pursuant to the terms and conditions of a permit issued by the superintendent.
(c) A disinterment shall be accomplished at no cost to the National Park Service. The superintendent shall establish a fee designed to recover the costs associated with supervising and administering a disinterment, including the costs of opening and closing the grave and redressing any disturbed graves or headstones.
(d) The next-of-kin is responsible for making all arrangements and incurring all financial obligations related to a disinterment. These arrangements and obligations include, but are not limited to the following:
(1) Compliance with State and local health laws and regulations;
(2) Engaging a funeral director;
(3) Recasketing the remains;
(4) Rehabilitation of the gravesite according to conditions established by the superintendent;
(5) Providing the superintendent a notorized affidavit by each living close relative of the deceased and by the person who directed the initial interment, if living, and even though the legal relationship of such person to the decedent may have changed, granting permission for the disinterment; and
(6) Providing the superintendent a sworn statement, by a person having first hand knowledge thereof, that those who supplied such affidavits comprise all the living close relatives of the decedent, including the person who directed the initial interment.
(e) The following are prohibited:
(1) Failure to obtain a permit required pursuant to this section;
(2) Violation of a condition established by the superintendent or of a term or condition of a permit issued in accordance with this section; or
(3) Failure to pay a fee prescribed by the superintendent in accordance with this section.
(f) The directed exhumation of an eligible person's remains shall be accomplished upon receipt by the superintendent of an order issued by a State or Federal court of competent jurisdiction. The superintendent shall retain court orders and other pertinent documents in the national cemetery files as a permanent record of the action.
(g) To the extent practicable, a directed exhumation shall be accomplished without expense to the National Park Service and without direct participation by national cemetery employees.
(h) The superintendent shall coordinate a directed exhumation with the ordering court, assure compliance with all State and local laws and supervise disinterment activities on site.
(i) If reinterment of exhumed remains is to be elsewhere, the superintendent may reassign the gravesite for use in connection with another interment.
(a) Government headstones and markers authorized to be furnished at government expense are provided in accordance with NPS Policy and VA Policy.
(b) The erection of a marker or monument at private expense to mark a grave in lieu of a government headstone or marker is allowed only in certain national cemetery sections in which private headstones and markers were authorized as of January 1, 1947, and only with the prior approval of the Director. The name of the person(s) responsible for the purchase and erection of the private headstone or marker may not appear on the headstone or marker or be identified elsewhere in the cemetery as the donor(s) of the private headstone or marker.
(c) A person who requests authorization to erect a private headstone or marker shall provide the following information:
(1) A list of the names of each person to be inscribed upon the private headstone or marker;
(2) The written approval of the next-of-kin and the person who directed the burial of each person whose name is to be inscribed; and
(3) A scale plan depicting the details of design, materials, finish, carving, lettering and arrangement of the inscription and the foundation of the proposed private headstone or marker.
(d) The Director's approval of a request is conditioned upon the applicant's granting to the National Park Service the substantive right to remove and dispose of the private headstone or marker if, after it is installed, the applicant fails to maintain the private headstone or marker in a condition specified by the Director.
(e) When a private headstone or marker has been erected at a veteran's grave in a national cemetery, and the next-of-kin desires to inscribe thereon the name and appropriate data pertaining to an eligible family member of the deceased whose remains will not be interred, such inscription may be accomplished with the prior approval of the superintendent. Appropriate commemorative data may be inscribed when space permits. The words “In Memoriam” or “In Memory Of” are mandatory elements of such an inscription.
(f) Except as may be authorized by the Director or by Federal statutory
(a)
(2) The superintendent may authorize the installation of a memorial headstone or marker of an eligible person provided that no more than one individual memorial headstone or marker is authorized for each eligible person. The erection of an individual memorial marker to a person is not allowed in the same national cemetery in which the decedent's name is inscribed on a group burial headstone or marker.
(b)
(2) An applicant for a memorial headstone or marker shall submit such a request to the superintendent.
(a)
(2) An applicant for authorization to erect a commemorative monument shall include the following information in the application:
(i) A list of the persons to be memorialized and the other data desired to be inscribed on the commemorative monument; and
(ii) A scale plan depicting the details of the design, materials, finish, carving, lettering and the arrangement of the inscription proposed for the commemorative monument.
(b)
(2) The Director may not approve a commemorative monument that bears an inscription that includes the name of the person(s) responsible for its purchase or installation.
(c)
(d) Title to a commemorative monument vests in the National Park Service upon its acceptance by an official representative of the Director.
The placement on a grave of fresh cut or artifical flowers in or on a metal or other non-breakable rod or container designated by the superintendent is allowed at times designated by the superintendent. The placement of a statue, vigil light, or other commemorative object on a grave, or the securing or attaching of any object to a headstone, marker or commemorative monument is prohibited.
Engaging in a recreational activity is prohibited.
The information collection requirements contained in §§ 12.6, 12.7, 12.8 and 12.9 have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3501