Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) expands to include pages for living veterans "Your Story, Your Legacy"
By James Theres, Public Affairs Specialist, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration August 2025
Sharing your personal military and civilian history can leave a lasting legacy for your family and friends. As actor Bill Murray said in the movie Stripes, “It’s the stories you tell.” Now there is a way for Retired Soldiers to share their stories while they are still with us.
Recently, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expanded its award-winning Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) to allow veterans to tell their own stories before they pass away. Through the new “Your Story, Your Legacy” feature, veterans can privately submit images, autobiographies, written tributes, military and life milestones, and historical documents.
“I was able to tell a story in there that I’m comfortable telling now and I would be comfortable for it to be shared after I’m gone,” said U.S. Navy veteran Michael Korman, who shared his experience with the new VLM feature in a short video posted to the Veterans News Network.
VA keeps the submitted content secure until the retiree passes away and VA approves a request for a burial or memorial benefit. Following approval, the content the veteran or family entered will become public and appear on the public-facing VLM website.
To receive a “Your Story, Your Legacy” page, veterans must submit a VA pre-need burial eligibility application online, which takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Upon approval, retirees will receive an email directing them to their own personal page.
VLM is the nation’s largest online memorial space dedicated to veterans, with nearly 10 million interactive VLM pages already on the website for those interred in VA national cemeteries, Department of Defense-managed cemeteries, VA grant-funded state, tribal, and territory cemeteries, National Park Service cemeteries, and private cemeteries around the world.
Since launching in 2019, more than 200,000 submissions have been made to veteran profile pages in VLM. VA moderators review all content submitted to VLM before being posted to a veteran's page to ensure it conforms to the VLM user policy.
To spread awareness about VLM and inform veterans of their earned benefits, VA’s National Cemetery Administration launched Plan Today, Honor Forever, its first nationwide outreach campaign. This initiative encourages veterans and their spouses to start end-of-life planning which can reduce their family’s stress at a difficult time.
For more information about pre-need eligibility and VA burial and memorial benefits, visit VA’s Plan Today, Honor Forever webpage.
