The Department of Veterans Affairs maintains a published list of more than 80 authorized emblems of belief for veteran headstones and markers, and families can either choose from that list or petition to have a new emblem added. The current list runs from emblem 01 (Latin Cross) through emblem 98 (Druze), and it covers major world religions along with Humanism, Atheism, Native American traditions, the Sikh Khanda, the Hammer of Thor, Wicca, Druidism, and dozens of Christian denominational variants. Images of every approved emblem are posted on the National Cemetery Administration’s website.
What Qualifies as an Emblem of Belief
Under 38 C.F.R. § 38.632, an emblem of belief is a graphic symbol representing either the deceased’s religious affiliation or a sincerely held belief system that played a role in the person’s life equivalent to religion. The belief system does not have to be affiliated with or endorsed by any church, denomination, or organized group. If the applicant states the belief was sincere, the VA accepts that at face value unless evidence suggests otherwise.
That definition matters because it draws the line between what the VA will engrave and what it won’t. The emblem has to represent belief, not identity, affiliation, occupation, or affinity.
Symbols the VA Will Not Accept
No logos, symbols, or images may appear on a government marker other than the authorized emblems of belief, the Civil War Union Shield, the Civil War Confederate Southern Cross of Honor, and Medal of Honor insignias. Beyond that, the regulation excludes whole categories of imagery:
- Social, cultural, or ethnic symbols that are not religious in nature
- Fraternal, civic, or professional emblems, such as lodge or union logos
- Commercial, trade, political, or military symbols
The VA will also reject any emblem it considers damaging to the dignity and solemnity of a national cemetery, including designs with explicit sexual content or coarse and abusive language. And because the emblem has to be engraved or cast in a production-line setting, the design must reproduce cleanly in stone or bronze. Overly intricate artwork gets rejected on technical grounds even when the underlying belief qualifies.
How to Request a New Emblem
When the emblem a family needs isn’t on the authorized list, 38 C.F.R. § 38.632 sets out a process for requesting its addition. The request has to be tied to a specific deceased eligible individual. The VA does not accept abstract or preemptive submissions.
What to Include
Two items go in beyond the standard headstone paperwork. First, a written certification that the proposed emblem represents the deceased’s sincere religious belief or a belief system that functioned in the person’s life the way religion does for others. Second, a three-inch-diameter digitized black-and-white image of the emblem. That image must be free of copyright or trademark restrictions, or the rights holder must authorize its use on government markers.
Where to Send It
The submission path depends on the cemetery. For a federally administered cemetery, or a state veterans’ cemetery that uses the NCA electronic ordering system, the applicant sends a written request to the cemetery director and separately provides the emblem information to the NCA Director of Memorial Programs Service.
For a private cemetery, or a state cemetery that doesn’t use the electronic ordering system, the applicant submits VA Form 40-1330 with a note in the REMARKS section requesting the new emblem, and sends the emblem information directly to the Director of Memorial Programs Service.
What Happens After You File
Once the VA has a complete application, the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs reviews both the authenticity of the belief system and whether the emblem itself can be produced. The regulation does not set a fixed review period, and the process can run several months.
If the application is missing something, the VA sends a written notice identifying what’s needed. The applicant has 60 days to supply it. Missing that deadline without showing good cause closes the request with no further action, and the family would need to start over.
An approved emblem is added to the authorized list permanently. It becomes available to any future applicant, and the decision goes into the public record. That’s why the list has grown so much over the years: each individual family request that clears review widens the option set for everyone.
If Your Request Is Denied
A denial isn’t necessarily final. The regulation builds in a structured chance to fix problems.
When the Under Secretary finds that an emblem would harm the dignity of a cemetery or has a technical flaw, the applicant gets written notice explaining the issue. From there, the applicant has 60 days to remove the problematic element of the design or propose a different emblem. The request is denied outright only if the applicant doesn’t respond, the proposed revision is unacceptable, or the applicant rejects the alternatives the VA suggests.
A separate track applies when the VA relies on outside information to question a request, such as third-party evidence bearing on whether the claimed belief was sincere. In that situation, the Under Secretary issues a tentative denial and sends the applicant both the tentative decision and copies of the outside evidence being used against the request. The applicant then has 60 days from that written notice to submit evidence or arguments challenging it. The Under Secretary must consider the response before issuing a final ruling. This safeguard exists because denying a claimed belief based on outside information raises obvious fairness concerns, and the regulation is written to force the VA to show its work before closing the door.
Before You Choose
Check the current authorized list on the National Cemetery Administration website first. Most families find what they need there, and picking an existing emblem avoids the multi-month review a new submission requires. If nothing on the list fits, the request process is real and it does get used, but it works best when the certification is specific about what the belief meant in the deceased’s life and when the proposed image is clean enough to cast in bronze.