Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemeteries

Delaware runs two veterans memorial cemeteries, one in New Castle County at 2465 Chesapeake City Road, Bear, and one in Sussex County near Millsboro. Who is eligible, by statute. Title 20, section 1204, subsection (a) adopts the eligibility rules of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration, cited as NCA Directive 3210, with three exceptions that widen it. Any person who retired honorably as a member of the National Guard or the reserve forces is eligible. Any person who served as a Merchant Mariner for at least two years between December 7, 1941 and August 15, 1945 is eligible. And a person who was a member of the Delaware National Guard or a reserve unit in Delaware for at least 20 years is not subject to any residency requirement. The residency rule. The statute lets the Commission "impose a residency requirement for interment", and it has. The Office of Veterans Services eligibility page requires the veteran to have been a legal resident of Delaware at the time of death, or for a cumulative three years or more at any time, or at entry into the armed forces. Any one of the three is enough. The page does not mention the Merchant Marine route or the 20-year Guard exemption from residency, both of which are in the statute, so cite section 1204 if either applies to you. What is free. Subsection (b): "There shall be no fee charged for any plot and the interment provided to any eligible veteran or member of the armed forces of the United States." The Commission may set reasonable fees for family members. The agency page says spouses and dependent children, meaning under 21 and unmarried or with a lifelong dependency, are eligible once the veteran is pre-qualified. What the agency page says about service. It lists honorably discharged veterans, other than active duty for training, and reservists with more than 180 days of active federal service, which need not be consecutive, and Guard members or reservists with 180 days of active duty or eligible for retirement pay at 60. A general discharge is not named on the page, while the national rules it is supposed to follow accept other than dishonorable service. Ask the cemetery to apply NCA Directive 3210 as the statute requires. Pending. House Bill 480, which would let the Secretary admit a Delaware Guard member with less than 20 years, was in the House Veterans Affairs Committee when the session ended and did not pass. House Concurrent Resolution 118 of 2026 encourages the Department to explore a third cemetery in Kent County; a resolution creates nothing, and there is still no state veterans cemetery in Kent County.