GENERAL INFORMATION

To schedule a burial: Fax all discharge documentation to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417 and follow-up with a phone call to 1-800-535-1117.

Grave Location: At the time of interment, we will provide a packet to the next of kin that includes a map of the cemetery with the grave location information. To locate graves of others who are buried here, please visit our public information center where you will find both automated and printed grave locators. To locate gravesites of veterans elsewhere, please visit the VA locator at http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1. To locate gravesites of service members buried overseas, visit the American Battle Monuments Commission at http://www.abmc.gov/home.php.

Military Funeral Honors
Any veteran who is buried in a national cemetery is entitled to military funeral honors that include folding and presentation of the U.S. flag to the next of kin and the playing of Taps. The flag detail will include two members of the armed forces, at least one of whom is from the branch of service in which the veteran served. A rifle volley may be provided if a qualified rifle detail is available. A volunteer rifle detail is available in North Platte and can be scheduled through the funeral home or by calling (308) 534-4350 ext. 267. Members of the armed forces can be scheduled through the funeral home or by calling the following numbers:

Army (785) 239-3741
Marine Corps (866) 826-3628
Navy (877) 478-3988
Air Force (402) 294-6667
Coast Guard (314) 539-3900

The Department of Veterans Affairs does not provide military funeral honors and, while our staff is always willing to assist families in any way possible, the Department of Defense is responsible for providing military funeral honors. Additional information may be found at www.militaryfuneralhonors.osd.mil/hnrs/owa/director.show_select or by writing to the following address:

Department of Defense
Directorate for Public Inquiry and Analysis
Room 3A750 The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1400
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HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Built in 1863, Fort McPherson was established to ensure peace along the western frontier between the immigrants traveling along the Oregon Trail and the Native American inhabitants. The troops originally stationed at the post provided military protection from hostile Native Americans during the construction of the railroad.

To meet the burial needs of the soldiers stationed at the post, a cemetery was established early in its history. The old post burial ground was later moved to southwest of the post and some 50 remains were moved to this location.

Establishment of the 20-acre Fort McPherson National Cemetery in 1873 afforded the space to relocate remains from the cemeteries abandoned when the number of settlers decreased. Burial records testify that life on the frontier was full of hardships and dangers similar to battlefield camps during times of war.

Monuments and Memorials
The cemetery has a digital carillon system that was donated by the Nebraska chapters of the American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary and Sons of the American Legion.  The carillon rings during the week to mark the time of day and plays selected devotional music on the weekend.
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NOTABLE PERSONS

Medal of Honor Recipients
Fort McPherson National Cemetery is the final resting place for four recipients of our nation’s highest award for valor in military combat. The date shown for each man is the date of the combat engagement for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. An asterisk (*) in front of the name indicates the award was posthumous and that the recipient was killed in action.

Private Daniel A. Miller, (Indian Campaigns) Company F, 3rd. U.S. Cavalry. Whetstone Mountains, Ariz., May 5, 1871 (Section A, Grave 380).

Sergeant Emanuel Stance, (Indian Campaigns) Company F, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Kickapoo Springs, Texas, May 20, 1870 (Section F, Grave 1040).

Sergeant George Jordon, (Indian Campaigns) Company K, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Fort Tularosa, N.M., May 14, 1880 (Section F, Grave 1131).

*Private First Class James W. Fous, (Vietnam) U.S. Army, Company E, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. Kien Hoa Province, Republic of Vietnam, May 14, 1968 (Section G, Grave 685).

Others
Fort McPherson National Cemetery is the final resting place for 63 Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry. The soldiers were all buried at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and were relocated to Fort McPherson National Cemetery in 1947 when Fort Robinson was deactivated.

Fort McPherson National Cemetery has served as the final resting place for American men and women who have served their country at many different times in many wars throughout the years. In some instances positive identification has been impossible due to the circumstances of the deaths. There are 81 group burials at Fort McPherson National Cemetery, which represent 350 Americans who gave the supreme sacrifice.

In section A, graves 384-389 contain the remains of six members of Company F, 3rd U.S. Cavalry: Edward Doe, Louis Cohn, Theodore Froendle, Dennis Mahony, Daniel Taylor and William Mars, who were drowned on May 31, 1873 in a flash flood which swept through their campsite on Blackwood Creek in the Republican River Valley.

Pvt. Cyrus Fox, 7th Iowa Infantry, was the last surviving Union veteran of the Civil War in Lincoln County, Nebraska. Pvt. Fox, who died in 1942, served under General McPherson for whom the cemetery is named (Section C, Grave 1270).”

An impressive white marble monument marks the group burial of 28 enlisted soldiers who were killed in an encounter with the Sioux on August 19, 1854 near Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory.  The incident, commonly known as the Grattan Massacre after Lt. John L. Grattan who led the soldiers, is generally considered by historians to be the opening salvo in a 36 year period of intermittent hostilities between the U.S. and the Sioux Nation, ending with the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1890.  Lt. Grattan is interred at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas.
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FLORAL/GROUNDS REGULATIONS

Cemetery floral policies are conspicuously posted and readily visible to the public.

Floral arrangements accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed grave.  Natural cut flowers may be placed on graves at any time of the year.  They will be removed when they become unsightly.  Metal, plastic and paper temporary flower containers are permitted.  Glass containers are not allowed.

Artificial flowers may be placed on graves during the period of Oct. 10 through March 15.

Potted Plants are permitted on graves 10 days before and 10 days following Easter Sunday.

Memorial Day decoration will be removed from graves seven days following the holiday.  Please note we do allow you to place artificial flowers during the Memorial Day week as an exception to the rules.

Christmas wreaths, and grave blankets are permitted on graves during the Christmas season.  They will be removed no later than Jan. 10 of each year.  Grave floral blankets may not be larger than two by three feet.

Plantings are not permitted on the graves at any time.  Statues, vigil lights, balloons, breakable objects of any nature and similar commemorative items are not permitted on graves. 

Please do not secure any items the headstones or markers; floral items or other decorations included.

With the windy conditions that often exist here, we recommend that floral items have a small identification tag on them, so if we find them blown off the grave we can return them to the correct gravesite.

Cemetery personnel will remove floral items from the graves as soon as they become faded and unsightly.  The cemetery director reserves the right to remove and destroy without notice, anything left on graves that violates the intent of these regulations, offends the sensibilities of the public or the dignity of this cemetery, and is an eyesore or a threat to the safety of the public or personnel of Fort McPherson National Cemetery.
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