There is a state Veteran Service Office in Moberly. Not in Columbia, not in Kirksville — here. A lot of veterans in this county do not know it exists, and the service is free.
Moberly Veteran Service Office
3029 County Road 1325, 1st floor, Moberly
660-263-4960 · VSOMoberly@mvc.dps.mo.gov
Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Friday 8 a.m. to noon
Veteran Service Supervisor: Arthur Nott-Hopkins
The office covers Randolph, Chariton, Monroe, Macon and Linn counties.
Call 660-263-4960 to confirm the address before you drive over — the state’s own record carries a ZIP code that is not a Moberly ZIP, which looks like a typo in their data.
What a service officer actually does
Accredited service officers counsel veterans and dependents on what they are entitled to, and then complete and submit the claim with all the documentation. They handle service-connected compensation, disability pension, education, vocational rehabilitation, burial and survivor benefits, health care eligibility and the VA Home Loan Guaranty. They follow up with the VA afterwards, and they have access to the VA’s Benefit Delivery Network for expedited claims.
It is free. Anyone charging you to file a VA claim is selling you something you can get for nothing at 3029 County Road 1325.
Other offices nearby: Columbia (Boone, Callaway, Howard) · Mexico, at the Missouri Veterans Home, 573-567-8111 (Audrain) · Kirksville, 660-785-2460 · Hannibal, 573-248-2550.
Health care
Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital
800 Hospital Drive, Columbia · 573-814-6000 · TTY 711
Open 24/7, with 24/7 emergency care.
va.gov
VA Health Connect — 800-698-2411. Mental health care — 573-814-6486. Caregiver Support Program — 573-814-6204.
Truman covers primary care, mental health and substance use, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, surgery and orthopedics, dental and oral surgery, neurology, oncology, infectious disease, audiology and speech, rehabilitation and extended care, women’s health, prosthetics, PTSD care, and most specialties in between.
Mexico VA Clinic
3460 South Clark Street, Mexico · 573-581-9630
Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Primary care, immunisations, labs, mental health, women’s health, radiology, social services and telehealth. Appointment only — but no referral is needed for primary care. For many people in this county Mexico is the shorter drive.
If you are homeless or about to be: National Call Center for Homeless Veterans, 877-424-3838. Walk-ins at Truman are seen through the emergency department check-in desk.
Getting to the VA without a car
DAV vans run to the Columbia VA, coordinated through county veterans service directors. Schedule through the hospital’s coordinator, Jack C. Waterfield, 573-814-6002.
The rules are strict. All riders must be ambulatory — able to get on and off without the driver’s help. The vans cannot carry wheelchairs or oxygen bottles. Some areas need two weeks’ notice. Seatbelts required; no weapons, alcohol or drugs; be ready at the scheduled departure time.
For wheelchair or non-ambulatory transport, call 573-814-6000 or 573-814-6005.
The VA publishes no route list and does not name Moberly. Call 573-814-6002, and also call the Moberly service office on 660-263-4960, since routes run through county directors.
Other options: MO Rides / Veterans Transportation Service, 844-836-7433 — free transport to participating VA medical centres · DAV national, 877-426-2838 · OATS Transit, which runs Moberly to Columbia on Tuesdays for $10 return; see our senior services guide.
Record your DD-214 — it is free
Randolph County Recorder of Deeds, 372 Highway JJ, Suite 1H, Huntsville · 844-277-6555 ext. 330 · weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bring the original DD-214. It is scanned and handed straight back to you at the counter.
"There is no fee for the request or copy." Certified copies at the time of recording are free too.
Why bother: once it is recorded, the county can produce a certified copy whenever a veteran or a family needs one — for a VA claim, a benefit, a funeral — without waiting on the National Archives. The record is restricted: a notarised request form is required and only people authorised by law can get a copy. It is not public.
Missouri Veterans Home — Mexico
#1 Veterans’ Drive, Mexico · 573-581-1088. Admissions: Jessica Wages, 573-567-8272. Opened 1985. Secured dementia unit, enclosed courtyard, raised garden beds, walking trail.
The 2026 rate is $2,773 a month, adjusted each January. That covers food, laundry, housekeeping, wifi and cable, medications from the home’s pharmacy, barbershop, physician fees, VA appointments and activities, plus 24-hour nursing and therapy.
Eligibility — all of these: meet VA veteran criteria; have physician documentation that you need 24-hour skilled nursing care; be a Missouri citizen with 180 consecutive days of residency immediately before applying; not be on a sex offender registry; no Class A or B felony conviction; and have a condition the home can serve.
The application packet needs a DD-214 copy, durable power of attorney paperwork, proof of residency and medical information. It is not considered complete unless every form is done.
Missouri runs seven homes with 1,238 skilled nursing beds. Mexico is the nearest to Randolph County; Cameron is second.
State benefits people miss
Property tax credit, and a property tax exemption for totally service-connected disabled former prisoners of war — through the Department of Revenue.
The Missouri Returning Heroes Act — reduced tuition for combat veterans at Missouri public colleges and universities.
Operation Recognition — an honorary high school diploma for veterans and former POWs who left school to serve. Open to residents and former residents of Missouri. If that is your father or grandfather, this one is worth doing.
Specialty veteran licence plates and a veteran designation on a state ID card — Department of Revenue. CDL exam exemptions for service members.
Hunting and fishing permit exemptions through the Department of Conservation.
Also: state veterans cemeteries, military funeral honours, the Medallion and Veteran Awards Program through the National Guard, and ESGR if your employer is making trouble over a military commitment.
Full detail at veteranbenefits.mo.gov, or ask the Moberly service office.
Burial benefits
Current VA rates: $1,002 burial allowance plus $1,002 plot allowance. For a service-connected death, up to $2,000.
A surviving spouse, partner, child, parent, executor, family member or the funeral home can claim. You need the death certificate including cause of death, itemised transportation receipts and the DD-214 — which is exactly why recording it at the courthouse ahead of time is worth the trip.
Deadlines: none for a service-connected death. Two years after burial otherwise.
Also available: headstone or marker allowances, burial flags, urns, plaques, medallions and Presidential Memorial Certificates.
Local posts
American Legion Bazan Bailey Post 6 and VFW Post 2654 both operate in Moberly.
We will be honest: neither publishes an address, phone number or meeting schedule through an official channel we could verify. The Legion’s national directory lists only an email for Post 6. What circulates for both comes from commercial directories and we are not going to send you to an address we cannot stand behind. Both have Facebook pages, and the VFW hall on South Morley is used for community events.
If you are an officer of either post, send us your meeting times and we will publish them here.
In a crisis
Veterans Crisis Line — dial 988, then press 1. Twenty-four hours.
Verified against the Missouri Veterans Commission’s own service officer directory, VA.gov, and the Randolph County Recorder of Deeds, September 2026. Rates and eligibility change. The Moberly service office, 660-263-4960, is the free and authoritative place to check.
