Locate a Grave

Our films feature a number of stories involving recipients of the Medal of Honor, the United States highest recognition of an individual soldier's bravery. Today, I'm going to get a bit personal, and tell you these are my favorite parts of the films.

After visiting the Medal of Honor memorial at Ft. Benning, I began researching Chester Furman, MOH recipient for actions during the Civil War. Furman was my great, great, great grandfather, on my mother's side of the family. My uncle, Robert Beckley, sent me these photos of his medal. The darker one is an earlier version that was later replaced because it was too easy to duplicate. Obviously, these medals are a tremendous treasure in our family, and it's an honor for me to be able to share them here.

Equally important to preserving the memory of our nation's heroes are their graves. And, while I was doing my research, I went to LocateGrave.org to find Chester Furman's final resting place. I found two photos, and sent a message thanking the photographer. In reply, I received a lovely email from a student working with LocateGrave.org. 

Evan Thomas, who studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, partnered with FindTheData.Org to help create a tool for finding graves of veterans and veteran family members.  The grave listings come directly from a public data set recently released by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.  You can use the access the tool at LocateGrave.org or use the widget below.

Veteran Gravesites

Vets and their families might also be interested in the Medal of Honor Recipients Database.

Find Medal of Honor Recipients

If you have any questions or comments about the grave locator, feel free to contact Evan at evan_thomas (@) umail.ucsb.edu