Have his DD-214 in hand and call this number.

• National Cemetery Scheduling Office:
  800-535-1117

If all is kosher they'll give you a window of dates & times, you pick one and show up. The color guard will be there and. point person will meet you and tell you what to do. They are very schedule oriented and don't mind one bit cancelling your service if you're late. They'll put dad in his columbarium and seal it, a few weeks later they'll put his permanent plaque in place and you're done. They're also particular about what you put on the plaque, I.e. if his name is George Alfred and he hated George and used only Alfred you still have to put either the George or the G Alfred on it. If he went by Fred that's not going on the plaque except in the remarks where you put things like We Loved Fred.
It's actually pretty simple and these folks do this daily, don't argue with them.

OldArmyCT said:

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Have his DD-214 in hand and call this number.

• National Cemetery Scheduling Office:
  800-535-1117

If all is kosher they'll give you a window of dates & times, you pick one and show up. The color guard will be there and. point person will meet you and tell you what to do. They are very schedule oriented and don't mind one bit cancelling your service if you're late. They'll put dad in his columbarium and seal it, a few weeks later they'll put his permanent plaque in place and you're done. They're also particular about what you put on the plaque, I.e. if his name is George Alfred and he hated George and used only Alfred you still have to put either the George or the G Alfred on it. If he went by Fred that's not going on the plaque except in the remarks where you put things like We Loved Fred.
It's actually pretty simple and these folks do this daily, don't argue with them.

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Thank you very much for this. My mother was calling random VA numbers provided by friends, so she didn't get anywhere. Was able to schedule a ceremony with military honors soon after this post.