Your Story, Your Legacy: Empowering Veterans to Preserve Their Voices
The latest release of the VA’s Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) introduces the “Your Story, Your Legacy” feature, empowering Veterans to preserve their own stories, in their own words, for generations to come. For the first time, living Veterans can upload personal reflections, photos, service timelines, and historical documents that will be securely stored and shared publicly only after their passing, if they are interred in a national, State, Tribal, or Territory Veterans cemetery or receive a VA memorial benefit. This enhancement honors each Veteran’s voice by allowing them to shape how they are remembered, ensuring their legacy lives on not only through official records but through personal memories and messages that resonate with loved ones and future visitors alike. It transforms memorialization into an act of storytelling; authentic, enduring, and profoundly human.
Every Veteran Has A Story
Your Story, Your Legacy
Honoring Stories Through Innovation
To successfully deliver the Living Veteran Feature (LVF) for the Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM), GovCIO applied deep technical expertise, thoughtful user experience design, and strategic integration capabilities aligned with VA business needs. Our solution enabled VLM to integrate with the VA’s Pre-Need systems (EOAS/MBMS) to automatically trigger the LVF workflow for eligible Veterans. We expanded API interfaces to support seamless communication between VLM and EOAS/MBMS and implemented modifications to the VA’s Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems to ensure secure authentication and eligibility verification.
Key backend enhancements included:
Automated Nightly Processing – Backend systems were upgraded to run nightly checks that notify eligible living Veterans via email when their profile is available for personal content submission.
Database Architecture – We added new database structures to store LVF content privately until the VA’s BOSS system records the Veteran as deceased, at which point their story becomes publicly visible.
Management Application Enhancements – Updates were made to the admin interface to support the creation, review, and management of Living Veteran profiles.
Data Insights – We created Tableau dashboards to track usage and engagement metrics related to the new feature.
On the front end, GovCIO worked closely with business owners, conducting user surveys, developing UI/UX mockups, and delivering iterative design reviews. This collaborative, agile process resulted in a user-friendly interface that allows Veterans to contribute autobiographies, mementos, milestones, and historical documents, content that remains private until transitioned by the BOSS system.
Voices That Live On
Living Veteran Pages Created
Living Veterans Submissions
Veterans on VLM
“With the Living Veteran feature, we’re not only preserving stories, we’re empowering Veterans to honor their legacy while they live it. Our dedicated VLM team takes immense pride in this work because, like so many, we have Veterans among our own family, friends, and loved ones. This feature allows us to celebrate service, preserve personal histories, and connect generations—ensuring every Veteran is remembered in real time.”
Empowering Veterans to Preserve Their Stories
GovCIO is proud to support the Department of Veterans Affairs in transforming how stories of service are preserved through technology. The “Your Story, Your Legacy” feature is a secure, thoughtfully designed feature made possible through advanced system integration, backend automation, and user-focused design, ensuring Veterans can shape how they are remembered in a way that is both meaningful and lasting. By empowering Veterans to preserve their personal stories, photos, and milestones, GovCIO is helping safeguard a living history for future generations.
No one can honor your legacy better than you. If you’re a Veteran, begin writing your chapter today. Upload memories, share milestones, and help preserve the story of your service.