The right of the nation's veterans to an honorable and dignified burial is an American ideal that dates back to the Civil War. Concerned that too many veterans were not getting proper burials, President Abraham Lincoln preside over the establishment of the first 14 veterans' cemeteries in 1862.
While the cemeteries were initially authorized to accept only Union soldiers who had died in Civil War battles, eligibility was later expanded to include all honorably discharged American veterans.
Today, any veteran of the United States Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard) who died on active duty or served the minimum tour of service and whose discharge was other than dishonorable is eligible for burial in a national cemetery. Military reservists and National Guard members are also eligible if they died on active duty or served long enough to qualify for retirement benefits.
In certain cases, officers of the U.S. Public Health Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and World War II veterans of the U.S. Merchant Marines may also qualify.
Spouses of eligible veterans may also be buried in a national cemetery even if they predecease the veteran. When an eligible spouse dies before the veteran and the veteran remarries, the second spouse also attains burial eligibility. However, if a surviving eligible spouse remarries a non-veteran, he or she loses that eligibility.
Minor children and adult disabled children of eligible veterans also have burial rights.
The right to national cemetery interment carries with it a number of U.S. Government-provided benefits. These include a burial plot; assistance with a committal service; a graveliner; the opening and closing of the grave; a granite or marble headstone, grave marker, or columbarium cover with inscriptions; a United States burial flag; perpetual care of the grave; and a memorial certificate signed by the President.
* Funeral directors' services are not covered. |
