A Funeral Home for Veterans

Providing Quality Military Funeral Services

At Roberts Family Affordable Funeral Home, we have become the ideal funeral home for veterans. Over the years, we have organized several military funeral services, and in turn we have perfected how to pay tribute to veterans. Providing quality military funeral services is a small way to show our appreciation to the sacrifice made by veterans.

When we first talk to you, it is crucial that you tell us that your loved one was a member of the military. That way we can immediately contact the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the appropriate military branch (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard), to see if and what military death benefits your loved one is eligible to receive. Below, we outline some circumstances in which your loved one would be eligible for military death benefits:

• Your loved one was a military member on active duty or was in the Selected Reserve.

• Your loved one was a former military member who served on active duty and left the military under honorable conditions.

• Your loved one completed at least one term of enlistment or a period of initial obligated service in the Selected Reserve and left under honorable conditions.

• Your loved one was a former military member from the Selected Reserve that was discharged due to a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

One thing you can do prior to meeting us is obtaining your loved one’s DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. This would help to quicken the application process for receiving military death benefits. You can request this form online from the National Archives. However, it is not an issue if you do not have this form as we can request it on your behalf.

Obtaining military death benefits can be a complex process, but that is what our funeral directors are there for. At Roberts Family Funeral Home, we handle the entire process to ensure your loved one and family receives the military death benefits they deserve.

Honor Your Veteran Today

What’s Involved in a Military Funeral?

On January 1, 2000, Section 578 of Public Law 106-65 of the National Defense Authorization Act was enacted. It became law that the United States Armed Forces must provide all eligible veterans with military funeral honors if requested by his or her family. There will be an honor guard detail of at least two members of the Armed Forces present for all veteran funeral ceremonies. One member of the honor guard detail will be from the branch of armed forces that the deceased veteran was apart of.  At a minimum the honor guard detail will perform a ceremony that includes the folding and presenting of the American flag to the next of kin and the playing of Taps.

Playing of Taps

Military Death Benefits

Below are a few of the common features that military death benefits provide and cover. The veteran may or may not be eligible for these benefits depending on his or her status and situation. 

• A gravesite at any of the 136 Veteran Affairs’ National Cemeteries 
   
• As an alternative to the National cemeteries operated by the Veteran Affairs, many states have established state veteran cemeteries. Eligibility is quite similar to the ones outlined by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but may include residency requirements. 

•  Most veterans are eligible to receive a headstone, marker, or medallion at no cost. The flat markers are available in granite, marble, and bronze. The headstones are available in granite and marble. 

•  Presidential Memorial Certificate

• As already mentioned an American flag is provided, at no cost, to drape over the casket or accompany the urn of the deceased veteran. 

• Burial Allowances refer to the flat monetary sum that is paid to cover the Veteran’s funeral costs. 

•  The casket may be transported via a horse-drawn limbers and caissons

•  Fighter jets may perform an aerial flyover

• A gun salute. The number of shots fired depends on the veterans rank. 

• For funerals of commanding officers, a riderless horse that represents a fallen leader will usually follow the horse-drawn hearse

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Sources:

Military.com. (2018). Military funeral honors. Retrieved from: https://www.military.com/benefits/burial-and-memorial/military-funeral-honors.html

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2018). Burial Benefits. Retrieved from: https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/burial_benefits/index.asp

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2018). Military funeral honors. Retrieved from: https://www.cem.va.gov/military_funeral_honors.asp 

Wikipedia. (2018). Military funerals in the United States. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_funerals_in_the_United_States