https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated March 16, 2021
Defense Primer: Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is a military cemetery
administered by the Department of the Army. On June 15,
1864, the War Department appropriated the burial site as a
military cemetery. Located in Arlington County, Virginia,
the cemetery was created in 1864 during the Civil War from
200 acres of plantation land that once belonged to George
Washington Parke Custis, step-grandson of the first U.S.
President. Custis bequeathed his estate to his daughter who
had married U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Robert E. Lee in 1831. At
the start of the Civil War in 1861, the Custis Lee family
fled the property. The Union Army then occupied and
fortified the estate to help defend the nation’s capital. In
1863, the Freedman’s Village was established on the
southern portion of the property to assist former slaves
transitioning to freedom by providing shelter, medical care,
education and training. The first military burial took place
on May 13, 1864, for Private William Henry Christman, 20,
a Union soldier from Pocono Lake, Pennsylvania. Two
unknown Union soldiers were later interred on May 15,
1864, the first of nearly 5,000 unknown soldiers now
resting in ANC. By the end of the Civil War, the grounds
contained the graves of 6,000 Union soldiers. On March 3,
1883, the U.S. government purchased the property for
$150,000 after years of legal wrangling with the Custis Lee
family. Currently, there are approximately 400,000 veterans
and their eligible dependents buried at Arlington Cemetery.
Current Eligibility
Eligibility criteria for burial at Arlington is in accordance
with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 32, Part
553, Sections 12 and 13. See Table 1.
Table 1. Current Eligibility Requirements for Burial and Inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery
Source: Arlington National Cemetery Establishing Eligibility at https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Portals/0/Docs/Eligibilty-Fact-Sheet-
20170701.pdf and in accordance with 32 CFR Part 553, Sections 12 and 13.
Proposed Changes to Eligibility
On September 25, 2019, the Army recommended changes
to the eligibility for in-ground burial and above-ground
inurnment at Arlington Cemetery, limiting it to certain
groups as required in Section 598 of P.L. 115-232, the John
S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
for FY2019. The announcement indicated that the changes
will allow the cemetery to continue to function as an active
burial ground “well into the future,” defined as 150 years.
Without the new eligibility restrictions, Arlington would
reach capacity for new interment by 2050. Fewer than
95,000 burial spaces remain within the current cemetery.
Proposed Eligibility for In-Ground Interment:
Servicemembers killed in action, to include repatriated
remains;
Current and future MoH recipients (ANC to preserve
1,000 gravesites);
Recipients of the Silver Star;
Recipients of the Purple Heart;
