New law affects veterans' burials nationwide

During the first two weeks of the observance of a new federal law mandating military honors for veterans, thousands of funerals have gone off nationwide with few hitches, the National Cemetery Administration says.

The Western Region of the group held a conference last week at the Tropicana hotel-casino to discuss that issue and other topics that affect 117 national cemeteries, which bury about 10 percent of the nation's military and former military dead.

While the state-operated Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City has had plenty of support for funerals over the years from Nellis Air Force Base and veterans service organizations, other cemeteries nationwide have been forced by a lack of resources to conduct services without military honors.

The problem results from military downsizing -- active-duty forces are down 35 percent in the past 10 years -- and veterans dying off at an ever-increasing rate, with 572,000 projected to die this year, climbing to 620,000 by 2008. As a result, about 9,000 valid requests for military honors each year have been declined, the Pentagon says.

In response to that, a federal law was passed last year and went into effect Jan. 1 that mandated at least two military officials attend veterans' funerals to present the American flag and play "Taps" either on a bugle or on a tape recording.

"There are many veterans nationwide who do not know they are entitled to burial with honors at national and state cemeteries," said Rick Arndt, spokesman for the National Cemetery Administration and a 21-year Army veteran.

"Our 1994 survey found that one-third of veterans -- about 8 million -- did not know they had that right. One of my goals has been to educate them about military honors. There will be a new survey this year and I hope that number has improved."

Before the law took effect, communities far from a military base could not guarantee their veterans military honors. Base commanders could decline such requests if they felt that wasn't the best use of their people, but now that is no longer an option.

Under the new law, which Arndt and others helped write as part of the 1999 Defense Authorization Act, the Department of Defense must provide the personnel. The honors also can be provided by reservists or service groups like the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars.

A spokesperson at the local veterans cemetery said Wednesday that there has never been a problem with honors there, as either Nellis AFB or a service organization has provided a color guard to fire three volleys of seven, a bugler to play "Taps" and an official to present the flag -- more than what is minimally required by law.

During the first week of this year, 18 veterans were buried at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery and 36 were scheduled for burial last week -- all with military honors, officials said.

Ruby Campbell, spokeswoman for the Santa Fe National Cemetery in New Mexico, says the new law has greatly improved the honors situation at her site.

"We have no military bases nearby," Campbell said. "Since the law went into effect, two representatives from Fort Bliss (in El Paso, Texas) have driven five to six hours each day to attend the eight to 13 services, fold and present the flags."

Marge Helgerson, spokeswoman for Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minnesota, said her facility, which does 22 services per day, has not yet had to rely on the new law to provide military honors.

"We have a rifle squad that has been doing this for 20 years and a bugler," she said. "We are quite proud of the work they have done and we have made a video of them that we are showing at this conference."

Dave Porter, spokesman for the Golden Gate and San Francisco National Cemeteries, says there has been just one snafu at one of his sites since the first of the year.

"A (military) representative arrived for the services and, after seeing the flag draped across the casket, said her orders were to present the flag, not to fold it," Porter said. "She admitted she did not know how to fold the flag."

Porter said the embarrassing situation was eased when two of the mourners, who came to the service in full uniform, volunteered to fold the flag for presentation. Also, Porter said, he had a folded flag ready for just such unforeseen circumstances.

And even good laws have their downsides, as Virginia Walker, spokeswoman for the Fort Richardson and Sitka National Cemeteries in Alaska, learned.

"Because Fort Richardson is right there we used to get full military honors all of the time," she said. "Now we get just the required two representatives per service, unless the deceased is a retired veteran, in which case he gets full military honors."

The Sitka facility, on the other hand, will greatly benefit from the law mandating that military officials attend services, even at such remote sites, Walker said.

Guaranteeing military honors to the 26 million military veterans in the United States, including 16 million who served in World War II, will be expensive, especially with World War II veterans now dying at a rate of 1,100 per day, Arndt said.

To send the minimum detail of military personnel to so many funerals could cost an estimated $75 million this year and $207 million by 2005, a Pentagon report says.

"This law was in the works for two years, and we want to help the Department of Defense make it work," said Arndt, whose father, Harold Arndt, a World War II Navy veteran, was buried without military honors in 1992 because of a lack of available military resources.

"If this new law existed back then, my father and others would have received the honors they deserved," Arndt said. "I was a veteran who back then did not know much about military honors. I thought it was nice that the funeral director presented the flag to Mom. I just didn't know Dad was entitled to more."

archive