[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 36, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 36CFR12.7]

[Page 183-184]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
      CHAPTER I--NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 12_NATIONAL CEMETERY REGULATIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 12.7  Headstones and markers.

    (a) Government headstones and markers authorized to be furnished at 
government expense are provided in accordance with NPS Policy and VA 
Policy.
    (b) The erection of a marker or monument at private expense to mark 
a grave in lieu of a government headstone or marker is allowed only in 
certain national cemetery sections in which private headstones and 
markers were authorized as of January 1, 1947, and only with the prior 
approval of the Director. The name of the person(s) responsible for the 
purchase and erection of the private headstone or marker may not appear 
on the headstone or marker or be identified elsewhere in the cemetery as 
the donor(s) of the private headstone or marker.
    (c) A person who requests authorization to erect a private headstone 
or marker shall provide the following information:

[[Page 184]]

    (1) A list of the names of each person to be inscribed upon the 
private headstone or marker;
    (2) The written approval of the next-of-kin and the person who 
directed the burial of each person whose name is to be inscribed; and
    (3) A scale plan depicting the details of design, materials, finish, 
carving, lettering and arrangement of the inscription and the foundation 
of the proposed private headstone or marker.
    (d) The Director's approval of a request is conditioned upon the 
applicant's granting to the National Park Service the substantive right 
to remove and dispose of the private headstone or marker if, after it is 
installed, the applicant fails to maintain the private headstone or 
marker in a condition specified by the Director.
    (e) When a private headstone or marker has been erected at a 
veteran's grave in a national cemetery, and the next-of-kin desires to 
inscribe thereon the name and appropriate data pertaining to an eligible 
family member of the deceased whose remains will not be interred, such 
inscription may be accomplished with the prior approval of the 
superintendent. Appropriate commemorative data may be inscribed when 
space permits. The words ``In Memoriam'' or ``In Memory Of'' are 
mandatory elements of such an inscription.
    (f) Except as may be authorized by the Director or by Federal 
statutory law for making a group burial, the erection of a mausoleum, an 
overground vault or a headstone or marker determined by the 
superintendent not to be in keeping with the historic character of the 
national cemetery is prohibited. An underground vault may be placed at 
the time of interment at no expense to the National Park Service.