Six grants totaling more than $2,187,800 have been awarded by the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration to educational institutions and non-profit organizations to provide funding for students and teachers around the country to learn about, memorialize, and share the stories of veterans interred in NCA cemeteries.
This marks the second year the Veterans Legacy Program has provided funding to research and memorialize veterans, teach students about veterans, and develop innovative ways of telling veterans’ stories, said VA’S Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Matt Quinn in a statement.
“These grants help ensure future generations of Americans will appreciate the legacies of Veterans who have given so much for this nation,” he added.
Those receiving the grants include the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which received a grant of $498,714.96 for its World War II: Portraits of Service project. It will include the creation of five lesson plans, teacher professional development, and a traveling exhibit all centered around members of the greatest generation whose stories have remained untold. A Portraits of Service award will be given to 10 students whose work excels in honoring these veterans.
Loyola Marymount University received a grant of $370,00o for its LMU Digital Veterans Legacy Project, which continues its efforts to research and document the lives of veterans interred in Los Angeles National Cemetery. LMU will work closely with local high schools and community and veterans’ groups. The project will focus on identifying and telling the stories of Buffalo Soldiers and Asian-American veterans interred in the cemetery. LMU’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps detachment will also collaborate with high school and undergraduate students.
Ball State University received $337,464 to highlight the significant contributions of Indiana natives who served in the 28th U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), Indiana’s only African American regiment that served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Graduate assistants will research the lives and service legacies of USCTs interred at Crown Hill National Cemetery and New Albany National Cemetery. The results of this research will be incorporated into a digital story map, a traveling exhibit, and curriculum packets developed for teachers.
The University of Central Missouri will use its grant of $399,000 to fund its Veteran Voices from the Heartland project. It will produce biographies of noted and/or underrepresented Black and Native American veterans. Civil War and World War II veterans interred at Fort Scott National Cemetery in Fort Scott, Kansas will be researched, and World War II veterans interred at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri will also be studied. A website for these digital biographies will be created and a research handbook will be crafted for teachers attending the university’s summer institute.
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The University of Central Florida received a grant of $399,260 for a project that aims to connect teachers and students to veterans interred in St. Augustine and other Florida National Cemeteries. The project will include mini-tours of national cemeteries in Florida, biographies of veterans buried in national cemeteries and the creation of lesson plans to be used in Florida public schools. Student team members will also translate select veteran biographies on UCF’s website into Spanish and All materials will be made available to the public via the UCF-VLP website.
The West Virginia Humanities Council grant of $183,368 will be used for The West Virginia National Cemeteries Project. It will facilitate the work of approximately 40 students at Grafton High School and University High in Morgantown who will compose biographies of veterans interred at Grafton and West Virginia National Cemeteries over the next year. Student work will be made permanently available to the public through the West Virginia Humanities Council website, the Veterans Legacy Memorial and other repositories.
To learn more about the Veterans Legacy Program visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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