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The project will add 120 names to the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish memorials at Arlington.

A 15-year effort to update and restore the monuments at Chaplains Hill in Arlington National Cemetery has cleared one of its final hurdles.

On July 16, the Commission of Fine Arts approved the addition of the names of 120 military chaplains who died in service to those already listed on the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish memorials, as well as replacement of the Protestant memorial’s concrete base with a granite stone matching the others.

Once the Army secretary signs off on the updates, work can proceed, with the goal of a dedication this fall, says Rabbi Harold Robinson, a retired rear admiral and Navy chaplain of 36 years.

As past chairman of the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces (NCMAF), Robinson has long championed full recognition of every chaplain who made the supreme sacrifice. In 2009, he joined Sons of �鶹��ƵAV member Ken Kraetzer in campaigning for a Jewish Chaplains Memorial to be placed at Chaplains Hill alongside Catholic and Protestant memorials.

The two men didn’t stop there, determined that no fallen chaplain’s name be lost to history. Led by Robinson, NCMAF has pushed for the three monuments to be brought current – particularly the Protestant memorial, which is missing names of chaplains from the Korean War going forward. And while the Catholic and Jewish memorials were mostly up to date at their installations (1989 and 2011, respectively), names of Gulf War and post-9/11 chaplains are absent. Further research by NCMAF has uncovered names of other chaplains who have yet to be memorialized, including a Greek Orthodox priest.

According to Robinson, the updates will close work in perpetuity on the existing monuments.

“We recognize that we could lose a Buddhist chaplain, a Muslim chaplain, a Hindu chaplain,” he says. “We would want to create a new monument to the Chaplain Corps without denomination.”

In 2021, the Legion’s National Executive Committee passed , in support of NCMAF’s proposed updates for Chaplains Hill.

Two previous National Defense Authorization Acts included language about modifications to the monuments, but a key word in the fiscal 2026 NDAA makes it law: the Army secretary “shall,” not “may,” direct NCMAF to make updates to the memorials, at no expense to the government.

NCMAF is now raising funds for the work, which Robinson estimates will cost about $60,000.

“Having the Legion behind us created a legitimacy and an urgency,” he says. “I can’t adequately describe the importance of that support. You represent the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and Guardians who have served our country and been ministered to by our chaplains. I can’t think of any more precious relationship than these people of faith who brought them courage and solace and reassurance in the most trying of circumstances.”

Go to for updates and information on how to support the Chaplains Hill project.