Funeral Planning Guide Military Burial

Military burial should be covered in a good funeral planning guide. Some veterans and their families are under the assumption that the government will take care of their burial. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There are lots of variables to consider if this is an option you are considering.Military Search

Location

There may not be a veteran cemetery close to your home. Many veteran cemeteries are often quite a distance from the family’s home.Our veterans deserve our respect for their sacrifice given to America Request your free funeral planning guide!

Availability

For every living veteran there is a good chance by the time he or she dies there may be no space available! Three out of four veterans will not be able to use a veteran cemetery when they die! Part of the problem is the veteran must die first so that his or her spouse can be buried with him or her in a veteran cemetery. If the non veteran dies first they cannot be buried in the veteran cemetery! This means there is a good chance that you may have to use a commercial cemetery.

Uncle Sam will bury me for free!

No way!This is one of the biggest reasons you should get a funeral planning guide! You may get items such as memorials at a discount. You will get the government’s $255 certificate towards burial. You still have to pay the funeral home mileage and all other services which could be substantial. Get the picture? This is a great argument for taking care of your pre-need arrangements now!

By law, every veteran who was honorably discharged is entitled to some recognition by a branch of the military. Because of budgetary restraints, only two duty personnel are usually provided to present the flag to a next of kin. Our Victoria County Veterans Council is honored to provide a full military service when requested. The full service presented has all the elements of a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. A lesser service can be requested such as a flag fold with or without taps.

After verification by the funeral home that the deceased has his/her honorable military service documented, the funeral home contacts the head of the council’s funeral committee, John Tait. The funeral home is also requested to include the correct information in the obituary to help alert the veteran members who participate. The obituary will state that there will be military honors of a flag fold only. Or, if a full military funeral is requested, it will state that there will be full military honors and the abbreviation of all 10 veteran organizations will be listed. I call this the alphabetic soup signal and many members recognize the sign and just show up. This saves having to make many telephone calls to individual members.

Some have requested that the meaning of the abbreviations of the organizations in the obituary be spelled out. So here they are: AL - American Legion, CWV - Catholic War Veterans, VFW - Veterans of Foreign Wars, DAV - Disabled American Veterans, MCL - Marine Corps League, MOWW - Military Order of the World Wars, MOPH - Military Order of the Purple Heart, POW/MIA - Ex-Prisoners of War/ Missing in Action, VVA - Vietnam Veterans of America, and KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association.

The council was first organized after World War II with initial members being the American Legion, Catholic War Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The newest member is the Korean War Veterans Association, which only received its Congressional charter this year. At a typical full military funeral between 20 to 30 veterans turn out. There are two to three men who fold the flag and present it to the next of kin. A rifle squad renders three volleys in honor of the deceased. A bugler plays taps. Many of the banners of the 10-member organization are displayed by members in formation. It makes a wonderful scene and is a wonderful way to honor a fallen fellow veteran.

Flowers