The Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration (NCA) has passed along the following information so that funeral professionals can help the administration provide better and faster service when scheduling a burial at a national cemetery.

To schedule a burial, please call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office (NCSO) at 1-800-535-1117, Option 1.

The NCSO hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The office is closed Saturday and Sunday.

Before calling, please have the following information readily available:

• Military documents, death certificate or other documents needed for interment (send via email to nca.scheduling@VA.gov or by fax to 866-900-6417)
• Cemetery of choice
• First or subsequent burial (veteran or dependent already interred in a national cemetery)
• If subsequent interment, name of the individual who is already interred, their Social Security number, and their dates of birth and date, as well as the name of the person that is to be interred at the national cemetery and the name of the national cemetery
• Decedent’s full name, gender, Social Security number, date of death, date of birth and relationship (veteran or dependent)
• Contact information (funeral director’s name, as well as the name, address and email address of the funeral home)
• Next-of-kin information (name, relationship to deceased, Social Security number, phone number and address
• ZIP code of decedent at time of death
• County of decedent at time of death
• Type of burial (casket or cremation)
• Marital status of deceased
• If veteran is interred in a private cemetery, documentation of marital status of spouse at time of death also must be provided
• Casket size/liner size/urn size/urn-vault size
• Whether the surviving spouse is a veteran and, if so, any military documents for the spouse
• Whether the veteran had any disabled, unmarried adult children who were deemed incapable of self-support before adulthood
• Names and dates of birth of any disabled, unmarried adult children for future interment
  • If requesting immediate interment, a note from the doctor and family stating type of illness (mental or physical), date of onset of illness, marital status, and statement to the incapability of self-support also must be provided
• Military honors if applicable