Life insurance and burial benefits for Virginia veterans

Military life insurance is federal, so the options are the same in every state: convert SGLI to VGLI after separation, apply for VALife if you have a service-connected rating, or buy private coverage. Healthy veterans often compare VGLI against private term life, since VGLI rates rise every five years.

VA national cemeteries

• Alexandria National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Alexandria
• Ball's Bluff National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Leesburg
• City Point National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Hopewell
• Cold Harbor National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Mechanicsville
• Culpeper National Cemetery — Culpeper
• Culpeper National Cemetery Annex — Culpeper
• Danville National Cemetery (cremated remains only) — Danville
• Fort Harrison National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Richmond
• Glendale National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Richmond
• Hampton National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Hampton
• Hampton National Cemetery, Phoebus Addition (closed to new casket burials) — Hampton
• Hampton National Cemetery, VA Medical Center (closed to new casket burials) — Hampton
• National Memorial Cemetery at Quantico — Triangle
• Richmond National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Richmond
• Seven Pines National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Sandston
• Staunton National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Staunton
• Winchester National Cemetery (closed to new casket burials) — Winchester

State veterans cemeteries

• Albert G. Horton, Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery — Suffolk
• Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery — Dublin
• Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Amelia — Amelia

Burial in a VA national cemetery, a government headstone or marker, and a burial flag are available to eligible veterans at no cost; see VA burial benefits for current allowances. Source: VA National Cemetery Administration: Cemeteries in Virginia

Veterans rated by the VA as 100 percent service-connected, permanently and totally disabled are exempt from real property taxes on the home they occupy as their principal residence and on up to one acre of land beneath it (more if the locality exempts more acreage for other programs), and a qualifying surviving spouse may keep the exemption. Source: Code of Virginia § 58.1-3219.5, Exemption from taxes on property for disabled veterans

The Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program waives tuition and mandatory fees at Virginia public colleges for the spouse or eligible child of a service member killed, missing, or captured in qualifying service, or of a veteran rated totally and permanently or at least 90 percent disabled, as certified by the Commissioner of Veterans Services. Source: Code of Virginia § 23.1-608, Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program

For help applying, contact the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.