(a) General. This section contains procedures for ordering a Government-furnished headstone or marker through the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) headstone and marker application process for burial or memorialization of deceased eligible veterans and eligible family members. It also contains procedures for requesting the inscription of new emblems of belief on Government-furnished headstones and markers.

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section:

(1) Applicant means the decedent's next-of-kin (NOK), a person authorized in writing by the NOK, or a personal representative authorized in writing by the decedent to apply for a new emblem of belief for inscription on a Government-furnished headstone or marker.

(2) Emblem of belief means an emblem that represents the decedent's religious affiliation or sincerely held religious belief system, or a sincerely held belief system that was functionally equivalent to a religious belief system in the life of the decedent. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, VA will accept as genuine an applicant's statement regarding the sincerity of the religious or functionally equivalent belief system of a deceased eligible individual. The religion or belief system represented by an emblem need not be associated with or endorsed by a church, group or organized denomination. Emblems of belief do not include social, cultural, ethnic, civic, fraternal, trade, commercial, political, professional or military emblems. VA will not accept any emblem that would have an adverse impact on the dignity and solemnity of cemeteries honoring those who served the Nation, including (but not limited to) emblems that contain explicit or graphic depictions or descriptions of sexual organs or sexual activities that are shocking, titillating, or pandering in nature; and emblems that display coarse or abusive language or images.

(3) Federally-administered cemetery means a VA National Cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery, the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery, a military post or base cemetery of the Armed Forces, a service department academy cemetery, and a Department of the Interior National Cemetery.

(4) Headstones or markers means headstones or markers that are furnished by the Government to mark the grave or memorialize a deceased eligible veteran or eligible family member.

(5) State veterans cemetery means a cemetery operated and maintained by a State or territory for the benefit of deceased eligible veterans or eligible family members.

(c) Headstone or Marker application process.

(1) Headstones or markers will be ordered automatically during the process of arranging burial or memorialization for a deceased eligible veteran or eligible family member in a national cemetery or a State veterans cemetery that uses the NCA electronic ordering system. Cemetery staff will order a Government-furnished headstone or marker by entering information received from the applicant directly into the NCA electronic ordering system. Unless a new emblem of belief is requested (see paragraph (d)(1) of this section), no further application is required to order a Government-furnished headstone or marker when the national or state cemetery uses the NCA electronic ordering system.

(2) Submission of a completed VA Form 40-1330 (Application for Standard Government Headstone or Marker) is required when a request for a Government-furnished headstone or marker is not made using the NCA electronic ordering system. VA Form 40-1330 requires the applicant to provide information about the decedent, inscription preferences, and placement of headstone or marker. There is a space in the Remarks section of VA Form 40-1330 for applicants to clarify information or make special requests, to include an emblem of belief that is not currently available. To access VA Form 40-1330 use the following link: http://www.va.gov/vaforms/va/pdf/40-1330.pdf.

(d) Application process for new emblems of belief. When there is an immediate need, and the applicant requests a new emblem of belief for inscription on a new, first Government-furnished headstone or marker for a deceased eligible individual, the following procedures will apply:

(e) Application. The applicant must identify the deceased eligible individual for whom a request has been made to add a new emblem of belief to those emblems of belief available for inscription on Government-furnished headstones and markers. The application must include the following:

(1) Certification by the applicant that the proposed new emblem of belief represents the decedent's religious affiliation or sincerely held religious belief system, or a sincerely held belief system that was functionally equivalent to a religious belief system in the life of the decedent.

(2) A three-inch diameter digitized black and white representation of the requested emblem that is free of copyright or trademark restrictions or authorized by the owner for inscription on Government-furnished headstones and markers and can be reproduced in a production-line environment in stone or bronze without loss of graphic quality.

(f) Incomplete application. If VA determines that an application for a new emblem of belief is incomplete, VA will notify the applicant in writing of any missing information and that he or she has 60 days to submit such information or no further action will be taken. If the applicant does not submit all required information or demonstrate that he or she has good cause for failing to provide the information within 60 days of the notice, then the applicant will be notified in writing that no further action will be taken on the request for a new emblem.

(g) Evaluation criteria. The Director of NCA's Office of Field Programs shall forward to the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs all complete applications, any pertinent records or information, and the Director's recommendation after evaluating whether:

(1) The applicant has demonstrated that there is an immediate need to inscribe the emblem on a new, first, Government-furnished headstone or marker for a deceased eligible individual, unless good cause is shown for an exception;

(2) The applicant has submitted a certification concerning the emblem that meets the requirements of paragraph (e)(1) of this section.

(i) In the absence of evidence to the contrary, VA will accept as genuine an applicant's statement regarding the sincerity of the religious or functionally equivalent belief system of a deceased eligible individual. If a factual dispute arises concerning whether the requested emblem represents the sincerely held religious or functionally equivalent belief of the decedent, the Director will evaluate whether the decedent gave specific instructions regarding the appropriate emblem during his or her life and the Under Secretary will resolve the dispute on that basis.

(ii) In the absence of such instructions, the Under Secretary will resolve the dispute in accordance with the instructions of the decedent's surviving spouse. If the decedent is not survived by a spouse, the Under Secretary will resolve the dispute in accordance with the agreement and written consent of the decedent's living next-of-kin. For purposes of resolving such disputes, next-of-kin means the living person(s) first listed as follows:

(A) The decedent's children 18 years of age or older, or if the decedent does not have children, then

(B) The decedent's parents, or if the decedent has no surviving parents, then

(C) The decedent's siblings.

(3) The emblem meets the definition of an emblem of belief in paragraph (b)(2);

(4) The emblem would not have an adverse impact on the dignity and solemnity of cemeteries honoring those who served the Nation—for example, the emblem cannot contain explicit or graphic depictions or descriptions of sexual organs or sexual activities that are shocking, titillating, or pandering in nature, or display coarse or abusive language or images. A determination that an emblem would have an adverse impact on the dignity and solemnity of cemeteries honoring those who served the Nation may not be made based on the content of the religious or functionally equivalent belief that the emblem represents.

(5) The emblem meets the technical requirements for inscription specified in paragraph (e)(2) of this section.

(h) Decision by the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs.

(1) A decision will be made on all complete applications. A request to inscribe a new emblem on a Government-furnished headstone or marker shall be granted if the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs finds that the request meets each of the applicable criteria in paragraph (g) of this section. In making that determination, if there is an approximate balance between the positive and negative evidence concerning any fact material to making that determination, the Under Secretary shall give the benefit of the doubt to the applicant. The Under Secretary shall consider the Director of NCA's Office of Field Programs' recommendation and may consider information from any source.

(2) If the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs determines that allowing the inscription of a particular proposed emblem would adversely affect the dignity and solemnity of the cemetery environment or that the emblem does not meet the technical requirements for inscription, the Under Secretary shall notify the applicant in writing and offer to the applicant the option of either:

(i) Omitting the part of the emblem that is problematic while retaining the remainder of the emblem, if this is feasible, or

(ii) Choosing a different emblem to represent the religious or functionally equivalent belief that does not have such an adverse impact.

Applicants will have 60 days from the date of the notice to cure any adverse impact or technical defect identified by the Under Secretary. Only if neither option is acceptable to the applicant, the applicant's requested alternative is also unacceptable, or the applicant does not respond within the 60-day period, will the Under Secretary ultimately deny the application.

(3) If the Under Secretary determines that the request should be denied and that decision is based wholly or partly on information received from a source other than the applicant, then the following procedure will be followed:

(i) A tentative decision denying the request will be prepared;

(ii) Written notice of the tentative decision accompanied by a copy of any information on which the Under Secretary intends to rely will be provided to the applicant;

(iii) The applicant will have 60 days from the date of the written notice specified in subparagraph (ii) to present evidence and/or argument challenging the evidence and/or tentative decision; and

(iv) The Under Secretary will consider the applicant's submission under subparagraph (iii) and will issue a final decision on the request.

(4) The Director, Office of Field Programs, will provide the individual who made the request written notice of the Under Secretary's decision.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 2404)

[74 FR 26096, June 1, 2009, as amended at 81 FR 10771, Mar. 2, 2016]