Funeral Home Selection
As you work through your local funeral director, keep in mind that a Virginia funeral home must be selected to assist with the burial. Although Arlington National Cemetery does allow a family to hand deliver an urn to the cemetery for burial, they do not allow a casket or urn to be shipped directly to the cemetery. They require that you engage a local funeral home to assist with this portion of the service. Several criteria should be used during this selection. Our research shows that finding a funeral home that understands all of Arlington’s procedures and handles a large Arlington caseload is critical. They will be able to “walk” your family or the out of state funeral home through the, sometimes daunting, eligibility process. Equally as important is a funeral home that has the facilities to “respectfully shelter” your loved ones remains during the time between death and burial. Because of Arlington’s caseload, this can take up to several months. The safe and secure storage of your loved one is something that should be thought through as you make plans with your funeral director. Most funeral homes do not have the facilities to store casketed remains for several months. It is not their fault; they were never designed to accommodate the backlog that exists at Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington will not accept a casket that is emitting strong odors or leaking fluids.
With this information in mind, we recommend Storke Funeral Home’s Arlington Chapel for their professionalism and knowledge of the cemetery. They have four funeral home locations, but their Arlington Chapel is actually the closest funeral home to Arlington National Cemetery. In fact it’s actually located on Joint Base Myer/Henderson Hall, which is immediately adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery. Their Arlington Chapel’s only task is handling the burials of our Nation’s heroes at Arlington National Cemetery and Quantico National Cemetery. Fort Myer (home of the Army’s “Old Guard”) and USMC Base Henderson Hall provide burial and logistical support to the funeral operations at Arlington National Cemetery. They are the only private funeral home in the country that has an office on a military installation. We have found that they are very helpful in just answering questions, at no charge, to family members and out of state funeral directors.
Arlington Chapel
Joint Base Myer – Henderson Hall
1555 South Gate Road, Bldg 26
IMPORTANT Do not ship mail, packages or cremated human remains to this physical address. Please call for Post Office Box instructions.
Arlington, Virginia 22214
(571) 730-7900