Indiantown Gap National Cemetery - History

History

Indiantown Gap derives its name from the various Native American communities that resided the region. Starting in the 1930s, it became a training area for the United States Army and control of the facility was turned over to the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1998. In 1975 it also served as a refugee camp for southeast Asian refugees. For eight months, more than 22,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees were resettled through the facility.

Indiantown Gap derives its name from the various Native American communities that resided the region. Starting in the 1930s, it became a training area for the United States Army and control of the facility was turned over to the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1998. In 1975 it also served as a refugee camp for southeast Asian refugees. For eight months, in accordance with the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, more than 22,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees were resettled through the facility. In 1976, a section of Fort Indiantown Gap was selected as the national cemetery for the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania donated land for the site to the US Veterans Administration (now known as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs), specifically the branch of the VA known as the National Cemetery Administration (NCA).

Since 1976, the Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery has been administered by the NCA and is separate entity from the section of Fort Indiantown Gap assigned to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as the National Cemetery is federal property, subject to the jurisdictional laws and ordinances set by the federal government of the United States. To this end, the facility is under the legal jurisdiction of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and is patrolled, maintained and protected as a full federal asset by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Police.