St. Albans National Cemetery

St. Albans National Cemetery is a VA national cemetery in Queens, New York. Burial is free for eligible veterans, their spouses and dependent children.

Source: National Cemetery Administration (cem.va.gov), retrieved May 2026

History of St. Albans National Cemetery

St. Albans was originally part of Jamaica, Queens, and consisted primarily of farmland throughout the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. With the construction of the Long Island Railroad in the 1870s, roads, such as Linden Boulevard, were built and by the First World War, St. Albans was developed beginning with the St. Albans Golf Course, and the subsequent residential neighborhoods, consisting of English-style Tudors, Colonial Revivals and others in brick, stucco and stone.

During World War II, the St. Albans campus was occupied by a temporary Naval Hospital built to house the wounded naval personnel returning from the War. One of nine throughout the country, it carried the largest patient load by the end of the War. When originally constructed, the hospital was built to accommodate 1,500 patients, 235 civilian employees, 73 officers, 71 nurses and 317 members of the Naval Hospital Corps in 1,000 wooden buildings (Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation 2008).

After the War, the Veterans Administration made the decision to build a 1,000-bed hospital at St. Albans to replace the Brooklyn Naval Hospital located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Navy determined a portion of the new hospital would be dedicated to the treatment of cancer. Other elements of the hospital included wards, treatment and clinic buildings, an administration building, kitchen, mess hall and patient recreational facilities. The general hospital was designed to handle special treatment in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, neurosurgery, tuberculosis, and tumors. Construction of the new hospital involved the demolition and removal of a number of the World War II-era structures. With the closure of the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, St. Albans became the only naval hospital in the New York City area available to all service branches (Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation 2008).

By 1972, a portion of the hospital was given to the Veterans Administration for use as a Veterans Administration Hospital. In 1973, the Government was proposing to close the military hospital, which still included a number of wooden, barrack-like buildings that were being used for storage. The Veterans Administration transitioned the hospital to a nursing home facility in 1974 and upgraded and modernized the facility in 1977. In the same year, the Veterans Administration transferred 53 acres, with several buildings and a swimming pool, to the City of New York for use as a park (Roy Wilkins Park) (Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation 2008).

The new national cemetery was constructed to meet the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA) goal of increasing burial options in areas with an unserved veteran population in the New York City area, as specified by Congress, in response to the Evaluation of the VA Burial Benefits Program (August 2008) of at least 80,000, in accordance with the Service Members Civil Relief Act, also known as the Veteran's Benefit Act of 2010. It also meets the goal of the NCA's Urban Initiative which noted a gap in burial options of five urban areas across the country and created an initiative to establish new columbarium-only national cemeteries within the city's core. The project redevelops a 5.25-acre site within VA St. Albans Community Living Center (St. Albans VA Hospital) campus which consisted of an abandoned military barracks built in 1968. The new national cemetery will provide 3,760 niches and several future phases will be developed to accommodate up to 35,920 niches over a 100-year period. It will be the 9th VA national cemetery in the state of New York.

Notable interments

The National Cemetery Administration lists these people of note buried at St. Albans National Cemetery, with section and site where recorded.

Directions

J.F. Kennedy International Airport to St. Albans National Cemetery. Total distance is approximately 3 miles. Take the Belt Parkway eastbound to NY-27 E/S Conduit Avenue. Immediately after the merge, turn left onto Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. Continue on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard for 0.9 miles. Turn right onto Baisley Boulevard (there is the Rochdale Village Shopping Center on the southeast corner of Guy R. Brewer Blvd and Baisley Blvd). Continue on Baisley Boulevard for 0.9 miles. Baisley Boulevard turns slightly left before crossing over Merrick Boulevard. St. Albans National Cemetery will be on the left.

Flowers and grounds rules

Contact the cemetery for information regarding the floral/grounds policy.

Who can be buried at St. Albans National Cemetery?

VA national cemeteries accept a veteran who didn't receive a dishonorable discharge, a service member who died on active duty or in training, the veteran's spouse or surviving spouse (even if they remarried), and minor or, in some cases, unmarried adult dependent children. National Guard and Reserve members qualify under narrower rules. You can ask VA for a pre-need eligibility decision in advance; it does not reserve a gravesite.

What does burial here include at no cost?

• A gravesite in any VA national cemetery with available space
• Opening and closing of the grave
• A government-provided burial liner
• A government-provided headstone or marker
• Perpetual care of the gravesite

Veterans also receive a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate (presented to the next of kin at the burial) and military funeral honors, which include the playing of Taps and two uniformed service members who present the flag. The committal service is held at a committal shelter, not at the grave, and lasts about 20 minutes. National cemeteries have no viewing facilities, so the funeral itself is held elsewhere.

How do you schedule a burial at St. Albans National Cemetery?

1. Gather the veteran's DD214 or other discharge papers, and the deceased's details (Social Security number, dates of birth and death, relationship to the veteran).
2. Fax the discharge papers to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 866-900-6417, or email them to [email protected] with the deceased's name in the subject line.
3. You or the funeral director call 800-535-1117 (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET) to request St. Albans National Cemetery and a date. National cemeteries hold burials Monday through Friday.

Where is the St. Albans National Cemetery burial schedule?

VA posts a daily burial schedule for every national cemetery. Search it for St. Albans National Cemetery to see the committal services planned there. It only lists burials whose families agreed to publish them. To change or cancel a burial that's already scheduled, contact St. Albans National Cemetery directly at 718-298-8545.

Headstone, flag and burial allowance

• Government headstone or marker: tell the scheduling office which headstone, marker, niche cover or medallion you want when you schedule the burial.
• Burial flag: VA Form 27-2008.
• Burial allowance: For a non-service-connected death on or after October 1, 2026, VA pays up to $1,032 toward burial and funeral costs and $1,032 for a plot; for a service-connected death on or after September 11, 2001, the burial allowance is up to $2,000. Claim it with VA Form 21P-530EZ. All benefits

After the funeral: survivor benefits and the estate

A surviving spouse, child or parent may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), a tax-free monthly VA benefit, for example when the death was service connected (VA Form 21P-534EZ). The veteran's estate is settled under New York law; our sister site ProbateUS explains how probate works in New York and lists each county's probate court. For the rest of the paperwork, from Social Security to bank accounts, DeathUS has a step-by-step checklist of what to do when someone dies.

Nearest cemeteries

The three veterans cemeteries closest to St. Albans National Cemetery, by straight-line distance:

• Cypress Hills National Cemetery (Mount of Victory Plot), Brooklyn, NY: 6 mi, closed to new in-ground burials
• Cypress Hills National Cemetery (Union Grounds Plot), Brooklyn, NY: 6 mi, closed to new in-ground burials
• Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY: 6 mi, closed to new in-ground burials