Veterans Guide
The space
is our gift
Both veterans sections give the burial space at no charge to a qualifying veteran, and the gift follows you: if your family is resting elsewhere in the park, we apply the same credit toward a space beside them. What remains are the charges tied to the interment itself.
What the VA provides
Choosing a private cemetery forfeits none of it. None of it is automatic either: every one has to be applied for with proof of service, and we prepare and submit those for you.
- Headstone or markerFurnished at no charge for an unmarked grave, in any cemetery. In a private cemetery the base and the setting are the family's expense.
- Burial flagTo drape the casket or accompany the urn, presented to the next of kin. We request it for you.
- Military funeral honorsThe folding and presentation of the flag and the sounding of Taps. Rendered here, and the family does not pay for them.
- Presidential Memorial CertificateSigned by the President. You may request more than one, so each child can have their own.
- National cemetery burialTahoma National Cemetery in Kent, at no cost. It is an excellent option and we will help you get there.
Start with the DD-214
The discharge certificate is what the VA relies on to confirm eligibility. Without it a marker cannot be ordered and honors cannot be scheduled. Hand me a copy now and I will keep it on file with your arrangement.
Section 1
What the VA Provides
Benefits earned through service, wherever you choose to be laid to rest
Every one of these is available to an eligible veteran buried at Washington Memorial Park. Choosing a private cemetery does not forfeit them.
★Headstone or marker
The VA furnishes a government headstone or marker at no charge for an eligible veteran's unmarked grave, in any cemetery. At a national cemetery it is set at no charge as well; in a private cemetery the base and the installation are the family's expense.
Section 6 compares the government marker with a granite one side by side.
★Burial flag
A United States flag to drape the casket or accompany the urn, presented to the next of kin after the service. We request it on your family's behalf.
★Military funeral honors
At minimum, the folding and presentation of the flag and the sounding of Taps by an honor detail including at least one member of the veteran's branch. Available at Washington Memorial Park.
★Presidential Memorial Certificate
An engraved certificate signed by the President honoring the veteran's service. Families may request more than one so each child or grandchild can have their own.
★National cemetery burial
Burial at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent at no cost, including the grave, opening and closing, a liner, a marker, and perpetual care. See Section 3 for how that compares.
None of this is automatic
Every one of these benefits has to be applied for, and each application requires proof of service. Nothing arrives on its own because someone served. We prepare and submit these for the families we serve, which is a good deal of the reason to have the paperwork in our hands ahead of time.
Section 2
Start With the DD-214
One document unlocks everything else
The DD-214, the certificate of release or discharge from active duty, is the document the VA relies on to confirm eligibility. Without it, a marker cannot be ordered and honors cannot be scheduled. Families routinely spend the first days after a death searching a house for it.
If it cannot be found, a replacement can be requested from the National Archives, and veterans discharged more recently can often retrieve theirs through milConnect. Requests are free, but they take time, which is exactly what a family does not have at need.
Bring us a copy now
The single most useful thing a veteran can do while pre-planning is hand us a copy of the DD-214. We keep it on file with the arrangement, so when the time comes nobody is turning the house upside down looking for it. There is no cost and no obligation to do this.
A copy also belongs somewhere the family can reach it. Not in a safe deposit box, and not with the will, since both are commonly opened after the funeral has already taken place.
Tahoma, or here
Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent costs nothing, and for some families it is the right answer. Three things separate it from our veterans sections. You cannot choose or reserve a grave there; it is assigned at the time of need. Tahoma takes a spouse and dependent children, where the veterans sections take three generations and first responders. Tahoma schedules around its own calendar, which often means a wait. Whichever you choose, the funeral home half is the same, the VA covers none of it, and we arrange both halves at one table.
Section 3
Where to Be Laid to Rest
An honest comparison of the two options in this area
Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent is an excellent option, and for some families it is the right one. It costs nothing. The tradeoffs are about choice, timing, and who may be placed alongside you.
| Tahoma National Cemetery | Veterans Sections at Washington Memorial Park | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of the space | No cost for a grave or a columbarium niche, including opening and closing, a liner, a marker, and perpetual care | The space is given at no charge to the veteran. The family covers the endowment care fund, vault, vault setting, opening and closing, and recording |
| Choosing the location | No. The grave is assigned at the time of need | Yes. You walk the section and choose the space yourself |
| Reserving in advance | No. Eligibility can be confirmed ahead of time, but a specific grave cannot be held | Yes. The space is yours from the day you choose it |
| Who may be placed with you | Spouse and dependent children | Three generations. Spouse, children and their spouses, grandchildren and their spouses |
| First responders | Not eligible | Eligible. Law enforcement, fire, EMS, 911 dispatch, and corrections |
| Funeral home services | Not included, and not covered by the VA. Arranged separately through a funeral home | Arranged here, in the same conversation, by the same person |
| How soon placement can happen | Scheduled by the national cemetery around its own calendar, and it is often a wait. Nothing can be confirmed until the VA has verified eligibility | We can usually schedule within days, and the placement itself is completed the same day |
Families who want their veteran near them, who want to know exactly where they will be, and who want the rest of the family to be able to join them later tend to choose one of our veterans sections. Families for whom cost is the deciding factor are usually better served by Tahoma, and we will help arrange it either way.
One thing to be clear about before you weigh the two: what Tahoma provides at no cost is the cemetery half of the arrangement. The funeral home half is the same either way, and it still has to be arranged and paid for. That is the subject of the next section.
Section 4
The Funeral Home Side
The half of the arrangement no cemetery covers
Every arrangement has two halves. There is what happens at the cemetery, and there is everything that happens before you get there. The VA covers part of the first. It covers none of the second.
A veteran laid to rest at Tahoma at no cost still needs a funeral home. Someone has to bring them into care at whatever hour they pass, prepare them, provide a casket or an urn, file the permits, order the certified copies, hold the service, and drive them to the cemetery. Those charges are identical whether the destination is Tahoma or Washington Memorial Park.
What a funeral home handles
Bringing your veteran into our care, any hour of the day. Preparation, whether that means embalming for a viewing or the cremation itself. The casket, urn, or cremation container. Permits, certified copies of the death certificate, and the obituary. A chapel or facility for a viewing, service, or reception. Transportation to the cemetery.
What can be settled in advance
All of it. Funeral home services can be selected and paid for ahead of time in the same way as cemetery property, at today’s prices, with the same payment options.
Families who plan the cemetery side and stop there often assume the rest is taken care of. It is worth planning both, or at least knowing what the other half involves.
One conversation covers both
Bonney Watson is a funeral home and a cemetery. We arrange both sides, which means the service, the merchandise, the space, and the marker are settled in a single sitting. There are genuinely two sets of paperwork, one for the cemetery and one for the funeral home, but they can all be completed at the same table on the same day, with one person to call afterward.
That holds true whichever cemetery you choose. Tahoma is the right answer for a great many families, and we are glad to help you get there. We handle everything up to the moment we bring your veteran to the national cemetery, and we coordinate directly with them on scheduling and honors.
What we would ask is only that you go in knowing what each side covers. Tahoma covers the cemetery half: the grave, the opening and closing, the liner, the marker, and perpetual care. It does not cover the funeral home half, and that half is the same either way.
Families who arrange the cemetery with one company and the funeral with another end up telling the same story twice, to two sets of people, in the worst week of their lives. It is avoidable, and avoiding it costs nothing.
Section 5
The Veterans Sections
What we give, what remains, and who may be laid to rest here
Washington Memorial Park has two sections set aside for those who served in the armed forces and in public safety: the Veterans Garden and Veterans North. The burial space in either one is given at no charge to a qualifying veteran.
The gift follows the veteran, not the section
If your family is already resting in another part of Washington Memorial Park, you do not have to choose between the veterans sections and being with them. We apply the same veteran’s property gift toward a space in that section instead, so a veteran can be laid to rest beside a spouse, a parent, or a child rather than apart from them.
The gift is a flat credit toward the space you choose. It applies to ground burial and mausoleum spaces, and if the section you choose is priced higher than the veterans sections, you simply pay the difference. Columbarium niches are handled a little differently, so ask us and we will walk you through it.The gift is a flat credit toward the space you choose. If that section is priced higher than the veterans sections, you pay the difference. Niches work a little differently, so ask me.
Tell us where your family is and we will look at what is available near them.
The costs that remain are the ones tied to the interment itself rather than to the land. We would rather you know what they are now than meet them for the first time on a contract.
- Endowment care fundWashington state requires a portion of every cemetery property sale to be set aside permanently. Only its earnings are used, and they maintain the groundsA permanent fund whose earnings maintain the grounds, required by the state. It is figured on what the property is worth, so it is owed in full even on a space we give at no charge
- Opening and closingPreparing the grave before the service and closing it afterward
- Recording feeEntering the interment in the permanent cemetery record
- Burial vaultThe outer container that surrounds and protects the casket
- Vault settingPlacing the vault in the grave
- Washington sales taxApplies to merchandise and its installation. Interment and recording services are exempt
Why there is a care fund charge on a space we gave you
This is the question we are asked most, and it is a fair one. Washington state requires a portion of every cemetery property sale to be deposited into an endowment care fund, and our contribution meets or exceeds that minimum. Only the earnings from that fund are ever used, and they pay to maintain these grounds for as long as the cemetery exists. Because it is calculated on the value of the property, it is still owed in full on a space we give at no charge, and it is not ours to waive for anyone. We would rather tell you now than have you find it on a contract.It is figured on what the property is worth, not on what you paid, so it is still owed in full on a space we give at no charge. It is not ours to waive for anyone, and we would rather tell you now than have you find it on a contract.
Who may be laid to rest here
Eligibility extends further than a national cemetery, which is the reason many families choose this section.Who may be laid to rest here. Veterans discharged under any condition other than dishonorable. Three generations of family: a spouse even if they remarry, children and grandchildren and their spouses. And first responders, whom a national cemetery does not take: law enforcement, career and volunteer firefighters, EMTs and paramedics, 911 dispatchers, and correctional officers.
Those who served
Veterans discharged under any condition other than dishonorable, and service members who die on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty for training.
Three generations of family
A spouse or surviving spouse, even if they remarry. Children and the spouses of children. Grandchildren and the spouses of grandchildren.
Great-grandchildren and more distant relatives are not eligible.
First responders
Those who served in an official public safety role: law enforcement officers, firefighters whether career or volunteer, EMTs and paramedics, 911 dispatchers, and correctional officers.
Three things to plan around
Two caskets cannot share a space, but a casket and an urn can. If one of a couple chooses cremation, the two of you can rest together in a single space. The gift of the land covers the veteran. A spouse or family member who did not serve is charged half the cost of the plot as a second right of interment, and the endowment care fund applies to that second right as well.Two caskets cannot share a space, but a casket and an urn can. The gift covers the veteran; a spouse or family member who did not serve is charged half the cost of the plot as a second right of interment, with endowment care on that right as well.
The order matters. Arranging the space together ahead of time protects the half-cost pricing, whoever is laid to rest first. Without that arrangement in place, a spouse laid to rest before the veteran can be charged the full cost of the plot rather than half. None of us choose that order, which is precisely why it is worth settling while everyone is still here to decide.The order matters. Arranging the space together ahead of time protects that half-cost pricing whoever is laid to rest first. Without it, a spouse laid to rest before the veteran can be charged the full cost. None of us choose that order, which is why it is worth settling now.
Adjacent spaces are not guaranteed later. We will always try to keep a family together, but availability depends on what is left in the section. Families who want to be side by side should choose their spaces at the same time.Adjacent spaces are not guaranteed later. Families who want to be side by side should choose their spaces at the same time.
What this actually costs you
Every arrangement is different, and a number pulled from a page is rarely the number a family ends up with. We prepare a written, itemized estimate so you can see your own figures rather than somebody else’s, and there is no cost or obligation to ask for one.
None of it has to be paid at once, either. Anything here can be arranged in advance and paid for over time, on a monthly plan, at today’s prices. Families who plan ahead this way are not choosing and paying in the same week, and if the cost of doing it all up front is what has been holding you back, say so. That is a solvable problem.
Placement in either veterans section requires proof of service on the cemetery contract, most often the DD-214, a military ID, or other service records. First responder eligibility is confirmed with department identification, employment verification, or a certification or license. Bring what you have and we will tell you what else is needed.
Choosing a marker
The government marker is free. Placing it is not. In a private cemetery the granite base it sits on, and the setting, are the family's expense, so the real choice is between two prices and they are closer together than most families expect. Granite is priced all-inclusive of the stone, engraving, setting and tax, and it is the only material that offers stone colours, custom scenes, photo portraits and diamond etching. At Tahoma the headstone is furnished and set at no cost. Ask me for the Granite Marker Guide and I will price the two side by side.
Section 6
Choosing a Marker
The government marker is free. Placing it is not.
This is the part that catches families off guard, so we want to be plain about it. The VA furnishes the marker itself at no charge, but arranging for its placement in a private cemetery is the family's responsibility, and all setting fees are at private expense. A government bronze marker requires a granite base before it can be installed.
Which means the real choice is not between free and paid. It is between two prices, and they are closer together than most families expect.
Government bronze from the VA
The marker itself is furnished by the VA at no charge. What you pay us is the granite base it has to sit on and the installation, plus sales tax on both.
Bronze is a warm patina finish with raised lettering and standard emblems. Photo portraits, custom scenes, and etched artwork are not available on bronze.
Granite from Washington Memorial Park
Priced all-inclusive of the stone, the design, the engraving, the wording, the installation, and the sales tax. There is no separate foundation charge, because the marker is the foundation.
Granite is the only material that offers a choice of over twenty stone colors, custom engraving and scenes, ceramic steel photo portraits, and hand diamond etching.
At Tahoma the headstone is free, all of it
This belongs in the comparison, so we would rather say it plainly. At a national cemetery the VA furnishes the headstone or marker and sets it, at no cost to the family, and Tahoma works directly with the VA to get it ordered. There is nothing for you to arrange and nothing to pay. In a private cemetery the VA still furnishes the marker itself, but the granite base and the installation are at the family’s expense, which is what the two cards above are comparing.
Granite varies considerably in price by color group, size, and design, so there is no single number we can print here honestly. Tell us the marker you have in mind and we will price it against the government option side by side.
Nearly every section at Washington Memorial Park, including both veterans sections, requires a flush marker set level with the lawn.
Section 7
Military Funeral Honors
What we arrange, and what the family should know
Military funeral honors are rendered at Washington Memorial Park, not only at national cemeteries. Every eligible veteran is entitled to them, and the family does not pay for them.
Honors must be requested, and they must be scheduled. We make the request on the family's behalf as soon as we have the discharge documentation, which is one more reason to have the DD-214 on file ahead of time. Honor details are provided by the branch of service and by volunteer veteran organizations, and availability shapes the service time more often than families expect.
What we handle
Requesting the honor detail and the burial flag. Ordering the government marker. Requesting the Presidential Memorial Certificate. Coordinating with Tahoma if a family chooses a national cemetery instead.
What the family provides
A copy of the DD-214 or equivalent service record. Any preference about the branch shown, the emblem of belief on the marker, and the wording.
If a veteran was a member of a post, a lodge, or a department, tell us. Many organizations render their own tribute alongside the military detail, and they need notice to do it well.
Section 8Two things families ask
Common Questions
What veterans and their families ask us most
Do I have to have served in combat?
No. Eligibility for the veterans sections turns on service and the character of discharge, not on where or when you served. Peacetime service qualifies. A dishonorable discharge does not.
What about the National Guard or Reserve?
Members who die while on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty for training are eligible. For others, it depends on the nature and length of federal service, and the discharge paperwork will tell us. Bring what you have and we will confirm it.
Can my spouse be buried beside me?
Yes, and so can your children, their spouses, your grandchildren, and their spouses.
If one of you chooses cremation, the two of you can share a single space, a casket and an urn together. Two casket burials cannot share a space, so a couple who both choose burial will need two.
The gift of the land covers the veteran. A spouse who did not serve is charged half the cost of the plot as a second right of interment, and the endowment care fund applies to that right as well. Arranging the space together ahead of time protects that half-cost pricing whoever is laid to rest first; without it, a spouse laid to rest before the veteran can be charged the full cost. Since none of us choose that order, it is worth deciding together while you both can.
Can I be cremated and still receive honors?
Yes. Cremation does not affect eligibility for military funeral honors, the burial flag, a government marker, or the Presidential Memorial Certificate.
My family is already buried in another section. Do I lose the veteran's space?
No. The property gift follows you rather than the section, so we apply it toward a space near your family instead. You should not have to choose between the recognition you earned and resting beside the people you love.
If you already own property here, bring your deed and we will look at what makes sense for you.
Do first responders really qualify?
Yes, and it is one of the things that sets this section apart. Law enforcement officers, career and volunteer firefighters, EMTs and paramedics, 911 dispatchers, and correctional officers are all eligible, with documentation of service in an official public agency or recognized emergency response role.
What if we cannot find the DD-214?
A replacement can be requested from the National Archives at no cost, and more recent records are often available through milConnect. It takes time, so it is far better to do it now than at need. We are glad to walk you through the request.
Is there a cost to talk to someone about this?
No. A pre-planning conversation is free, carries no obligation, and can happen at the cemetery, in your home, or by phone. Many families meet once, take months to think, and come back when they are ready.
Let's talk it through
Bring your DD-214 and your questions. We will walk the sections, go through both the cemetery and the funeral home side, and put real numbers in front of you. You can take as long as you need afterward.
Schedule a conversation Browse all guidesOr reach Martice Morrison directly at 206-277-5417 or mmorrison@bonneywatson.com
Bring your DD-214 and your questions
There is no cost to talk it through and no obligation. We will walk both veterans sections, go through the cemetery and the funeral home side together, and I will put real numbers in writing for you. Take as long as you need afterward.
Martice Morrison · (206) 445-9794 · mmorrison@bonneywatson.com
