subject: Burial Flag Eligibility [print this page] Burial Flag Eligibility Burial Flag Eligibility
Burial Flag Eligibility
The flag of the United States of America may be used todrape the casket of each deceased veteran who (1) was aveteran of any war and whose discharge was under conditionsother than dishonorable; (2) served in the Armed Forces inpeacetime for at least one enlistment and was discharged under conditions other than dishonorable or (3) was discharged for a disability suffered in line of duty.
Learn More About Life Estate Planning Today!
Briefly, the term "veteran of any war" means a veteran whorendered active military or naval service in the United StatesArmed Forces in a recognized war period. (See below.) Activeservice includes service in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Women's Army AuxiliaryCorps (which eventually was incorporated into United StatesArmy as the Women's Army Corps or WAC). It also includes commissioned service as an officer of the United States PublicHealth Service (regular and reserve) who performed activeservice while detailed for duty with the Army, Navy, AirForce, Marines, or Coast Guard, or outside the continentallimits of the United States, or while the service was a part ofthe Military Forces of the United States pursuant to ExecutiveOrder of the President.
When any member of the Armed Forces has died while inactive service after May 27, 1941, and when the Military orNaval Service does not furnish a flag immediately, the flagmay be issued at any tune in cases where the remains areinterred outside the continental limits of the United States, orin cases where remains are not recovered and are not identified. If the member of the Armed Forces was lost at sea, orhis plane did not return from a mission, or if his remains werenot identified, or if like Rupert Brooke, the English poet who was killed at Gallipoli in 1915, he thought along the lines andsentiment expressed in "The Soldier":
