GovCIO, a leading provider of advanced technology solutions and digital services for the federal government, has partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA) to introduce a new Living Veteran feature to the Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM).
The “Your Story, Your Legacy” Living Veteran Feature is available to Veterans who have been approved for pre-need eligibility for burial in a VA national cemetery. This feature offers Veterans a private platform on the VLM site to share their military and personal stories, including images, military and life milestones, autobiographies, and historical documents -all of which will be preserved by the VA. When they pass away and after their interment in a national or State/Tribal Veterans cemetery or upon receiving a VA headstone or other memorial benefit, VA will display their content on their permanent publicly visible VLM memorial page.
“Who better to talk about their time in Service and their life stories than Veterans themselves?” said James LaPaglia, VLM Program Officer. “Their first-person narrative will have an enduring presence in VLM for family members and others to better understand the unique Veteran experience.”
Since the VLM program launched in 2019, family members, friends, researchers, and other users have added over 165,000 memories Veteran VLM pages. Now with nearly 10 million memorial pages, some of which date back to the Revolutionary War, the site includes pages for Veterans interred in VA National Cemeteries, VA-funded state/tribal/territory Veteran cemeteries, Department of Defense cemeteries, National Park Service cemeteries, and in private cemeteries around the world where Veterans have received a VA-provided grave marker. VLM is expected to continue expanding in the future – later this year NCA plans to add memorial pages from American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries.
Since its inception, GovCIO has led the development, implementation, and maintenance of the VLM site for the NCA, ensuring that survivors and family members can access the platform to honor and memorialize their Veterans. With the launch of the Living Veteran feature, GovCIO will continue to provide ongoing support.
“It’s an honor to continue to work on such an impactful program with the VA,” said Kristin Gill, GovCIO Sector President, Veteran and Enterprise Technology Services. “With the addition of the VLM Living Veteran feature, we are proud of how GovCIO has helped tell the stories of so many Veterans who have shaped this country.”
“Having many relatives interred at VA national cemeteries, I am incredibly proud that the VA continues to trust GovCIO with this vital mission,” said Jim Brabston, GovCIO CEO. “Maintaining the VLM customer experience is a top priority, and we are committed to further developing the program so that families and friends can continue to honor their Veterans for generations to come.”
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