Veteran's Resources
The sole function of this page is to provide access to information relevant to our veterans in a central location. You will find links to the V. A.'s website, veteran's associations and to several types of forms as well as other information.
Menu of Available Topics
·
Veterans
Administration
Benefits
Burial
Benefits
Education
(GI Bill)
Healthcare
Benefits
Income
Verification
and Means
testing
Life
Insurance
Mammography
Help Line
Special
Issues
Status
of
Headstones
and
Markers
Telecommunications
Device for
the Deaf (TDD)
·
Kentucky
Department
of
Veterans
Affairs
Funeral
Honors
Who's
is eligible
for
Military
Funeral
Honors?
Burial
in a
Veterans
Cemetery
Headstones
and
Markers
Presidential
Memorial
Certificate
Burial
Flag
Burial
Allowances
· Origin of "Taps" audio also available
The Veterans Administration does not provide any payment for funeral services, but does provide the following:
A. V. A. Cash Benefits For Reimbursement of Burial Expenses - $300 is available for an honorably discharged veteran, IF: they were receiving a pension or disability benefits from the VA at the time of death; or the death occurred in a V. A. hospital, or V. A. contracted health care facility.
B. Active Duty or Service Connected Death - $2,000 is available IF: the veteran died during active duty; or an honorably discharged veteran died of a service-connected injury.
C. Burial Plot Allowance - $300 is available for an honorably discharged veteran not interred in a cemetery that is under the jurisdiction of the US government, IF: the veteran was receiving a pension or disability benefits from the V. A. at the time of death; the death occurred in a V. A. hospital, or V. A. contracted health care facility.
D. Transportation Allowance - Transportation allowance will be reimbursed by the V. A. for transportation expenses from the place of death to the funeral home and to the cemetery for a veteran who died in a V. A. hospital, or V. A. contracted health care facility.
E. Military Honors - Generally consists of a rifle salute, taps and a flag folding detail performance by military personnel.
F. U.S. Flag - An honorably discharged veteran is entitled to a U.S. flag provided by the Veterans Administration.
G. Headstone or Marker - In a National Cemetery, a veteran, spouse and dependent children receive a free headstone. For burial in a private cemetery, a simple marker for VETERANS ONLY will be provided.
H. Burial in a National Cemetery - Free grave space is available for a veteran, spouse and dependent children.
I. Burial in a Kentucky State Veterans Cemetery - While not part of the National Cemetery System, the Kentucky State Veterans Cemetery, in the following communities: Kentucky Veterans Cemetery - West, Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Kentucky Veterans Cemetery - Central near Fort Knox (Hardin County); and Williamstown (Grant county), Northeastern Kentucky, provides free burial space for veterans. A spouse and dependent children may also be interred in the cemetery for a fee of $350. Eligibility is consistent with National Cemetery rules. Interment space cannot be reserved in advance. Veterans may pre-apply to confirm eligibility.
At
the time
of death,
we will
notify the
Veterans
Administration.
For
specific
questions
concerning
eligibility
claims and
benefits
please
contact:
Veterans
Administration
by using
one of the
following
numbers:
V. A.
Benefits:
1-800-827-1000
Burial
Benefits
website:
www.cem.va.gov/cem/site_map.asp
Education (GI Bill): 1-888-442-4551
Health Care Benefits: 1-877-222-8387
Income Verification and Means Testing: 1-800-929-8387
Life Insurance: 1-800-669-8477
Mammography Help Line: 1-888-492-7844
Special Issues - Gulf War/Agent Orange/Project Shad/Mustard Agents and Lewisite/Ionizing Radiation: 1-800-749-8387
Status of Headstones and Markers: 1-800-697-6947
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD): 1-800-829-4833
or, by visiting their website, www.va.gov.
Kentucky
Department
of
Veterans
Affairs
The following information has been furnished by the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs
Funeral
Honors
The
Department
of Defense
(DOD) is
responsible
for
providing
military
funeral
honors.
Upon the
family's
request,
Public Law
106-65
requires
that every
eligible
veteran
receive a
military
funeral
honors
ceremony,
to include
the
folding
and
presenting
the United
States
burial
flag and
the
playing of
Taps.
The law
defines a
military
funeral
honors
detail as
consisting
of two or
more
uniformed
military
persons,
with at
least one
being a
member of
the
veteran's
parent
service of
the armed
forces.
The DOD
program
calls for
funeral
home
directors
to request
military
funeral
honors on
behalf of
the
veteran's
family.
Veteran's
organizations
may assist
in
providing
military
funeral
honors.
When
military
funeral
honors at
a
veterans'
cemetery
are
desired,
they are
arranged
prior to
the
committal
service by
the
funeral
home.
Who is eligible for Military Funeral Honors?
-
Military
members on
active
duty or in
the
Selected
Reserve.
- Former
military
members
who served
on active
duty and
departed
under
conditions
other than
dishonorable.
- Former
military
members
who
completed
at least
one term
of
enlistment
or period
of initial
obligated
service in
the
Selected
Reserve
and
departed
under
conditions
other than
dishonorable.
- Former
military
members
discharged
from the
Selected
Reserve
due to a
disability
incurred
or
aggravated
in the
line of
duty.
Further
clarification
on
eligibility
is
available
in United
States
Code.
Burial includes a gravesite in any of the National or State Veterans Cemeteries with available space, opening and closing of the grave, perpetual care, a Government Headstone or Marker, a Burial Flag, and a Presidential Memorial Certificate. Cremated remains are buried or inurned in veteran cemeteries in the same manner and with the same honors as casketed remains. Burial benefits available for spouses and dependents buried in a veteran's cemetery include burial with the veteran, perpetual care, and the spouse or dependents name and date of birth and death will be inscribed on the veteran's headstone. While there is no cost for any veteran's interment, state veterans cemeteries may have a minimal cost for spouses and/or dependents.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) furnishes upon request, at no charge to the applicant, a government headstone or marker for the grave of any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery around the world. Spouses and dependents buried in a private cemetery are not eligible for a government-provided headstone or marker.
Presidential Memorial Certificates
A Presidential Memorial Certificate (PMC) is an engraved paper certificate, signed by the current President; to honor the memory of honorably discharged deceased veterans. Eligible recipients include the deceased veteran's next of kin and loved ones. More than one certificate may be provided. Eligible recipients may apply for a PMC in person at any VA regional office or by U.S. mail. Requests cannot be sent via email. Please be sure to enclose a copy of the veteran's discharge and death certificate. Please submit copies only, as original documents cannot be returned. For more information, call (202) 565-4964.
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides a U.S. flag at no cost, to drape the casket or accompany the urn of a deceased veteran who served honorably in the U.S. armed forces. It is furnished to honor the memory of a veteran's military service to his or her country. You may get a flag at any VA regional office or U.S. Post Office. Generally, the funeral director will help you.
Some veterans may be eligible for VA burial allowances, which are partial reimbursements of an eligible veteran's burial and funeral costs. The reimbursements are generally described as; a burial and funeral expense allowance, and/or a plot interment allowance. Not all veterans are eligible for Burial Allowance.
For more information concerning these or any Veteran or Dependent Benefits, call toll-free: 1-888-724-7683 or visit www.veterans.ky.gov
The 3-volley salute is a salute performed at military and police funerals as part of the drill and ceremony of the Honor Guard.
A rifle party, usually consists of an odd number of firers, usually from 3 to 7 firearms, Usually the firearms are rifles for a military service, but at some police services, shotguns are used. The firing party is positioned such that, when they shoulder their arms for firing, the muzzles are pointed over the casket of the deceased who is being honored. If the service is being performed inside a church, chapel or funeral home, the firing party fires from outside the building, typically positioned near the front entrance.
On the command of the NCO-in-charge, the firing party fires their weapons in unison, for a total of three volleys. Because unbulleted blanks (which will not cycle the action of a semi automatic rifle) are used, in the United States, M1 or M14 rifles are preferred over the current issue M16 rifle, because the charging handles of the M1/M14 are more easily operated in a dignified, ceremonial manner than on the M16.
The three-volley salute is not to be confused with the 21-gun salute (or even lesser gun salutes, such as 19-gun or 17-gun, etc) which use a cannon.
The use of gun salutes for military occasions is traced to early warriors who demonstrated their peaceful intentions by placing their weapons in a position that rendered them ineffective. Apparently this custom was universal, with the specific act varying with time and place, depending on the weapons being used. A North African tribe, for example, trailed the points of their spears on the ground to indicate that they did not mean to be hostile.
The tradition of rendering a salute by cannon originated in the 14th century as firearms and cannons came into use. Since these early devices contained only one projectile, discharging them once rendered them ineffective. Originally warships fired seven-gun salutes--the number seven probably selected because of its astrological and Biblical significance. Seven planets had been identified and the phases of the moon changed every seven days. The Bible states that God rested on the seventh day after Creation, that every seventh year was sabbatical and that the seven times seventh year ushered in the Jubilee year.
Land batteries, having a greater supply of gunpowder, were able to fire three guns for every shot fired afloat, hence the salute by shore batteries was 21 guns. The multiple of three probably was chosen because of the mystical significance of the number three in many ancient civilizations. Early gunpowder, composed mainly of sodium nitrate, spoiled easily at sea, but could be kept cooler and drier in land magazines. When potassium nitrate improved the quality of gunpowder, ships at sea adopted the salute of 21 guns.
The 21-gun salute became the highest honor a nation rendered. Varying customs among the maritime powers led to confusion in saluting and return of salutes. Great Britain, the world's preeminent sea power in the 18th and 19th centuries, compelled weaker nations to salute first, and for a time monarchies received more guns than did republics. Eventually, by agreement, the international salute was established at 21 guns, although the United States did not agree on this procedure until August 1875.
The gun salute system of the United States has changed considerably over the years. In 1810, the "national salute" was defined by the War Department as equal to the number of states in the Union--at that time 17. This salute was fired by all U.S. military installations at 1:00 p.m. (later at noon) on Independence Day. The President also received a salute equal to the number of states whenever he visited a military installation.
In 1842, the Presidential salute was formally established at 21 guns. In 1890, regulations designated the "national salute" as 21 guns and redesignated the traditional Independence Day salute, the "Salute to the Union," equal to the number of states. Fifty guns are also fired on all military installations equipped to do so at the close of the day of the funeral of a President, ex-President, or President-elect.
Today the national salute of 21 guns is fired in honor of a national flag, the sovereign or chief of state of a foreign nation, a member of a reigning royal family, and the President, ex-President and President-elect of the United States. It is also fired at noon of the day of the funeral of a President, ex-President, or President-elect.
Gun salutes are also rendered to other military and civilian leaders of this and other nations. The number of guns is based on their protocol rank. These salutes are always in odd numbers.
Source: www.army.mil/CMH/faq/salute.htm & Headquarters, Military District of Washington, FACT SHEET: GUN SALUTES, May 1969.
Origin
of
"Taps"
source:
www.arlingtoncemetery.org/ceremonies/originoftaps.html
During the Civil War, in July 1862 when the Army of the Potomac was in camp, Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield summoned Pvt. Oliver Wilcox Norton, his brigade bugler, to his tent. Butterfield, who disliked the colorless "extinguish lights" call then in use, whistled a new tune and asked the bugler to sound it for him. After repeated trials and changing the time of some notes which were scribbled on the back of an envelope, the call was finally arranged to suit Gen. Butterfield and used for the first time that night. Pvt. Norton, who on several occasions, had sounded numerous new calls composed by his commander, recalled his experience of the origin of "Taps" years later:
"One day in July 1862 when the Army of the Potomac was in camp at Harrison's Landing on the James River, Virginia, resting and recruiting from its losses in the seven days of battle before Richmond, Gen. Butterfield summoned the writer to his tent, and whistling some new tune, asked the bugler to sound it for him. This was done, not quite to his satisfaction at first, but after repeated trials, changing the time of some of the notes, which were scribbled on the back of an envelope, the call was finally arranged to suit the general.
"He
then
ordered
that it
should be
substituted
in his
brigade
for the
regulation
"Taps"
(extinguish
lights)
which was
printed in
the
Tactics
and used
by the
whole
army. This
was done
for the
first time
that
night. The
next day
buglers
from
nearby
brigades
came over
to the
camp of
Butterfield's
brigade to
ask the
meaning of
this new
call. They
liked it,
and
copying
the music,
returned
to their
camps, but
it was not
until some
time
later,
when
generals
of other
commands
had heard
its
melodious
notes,
that
orders
were
issued, or
permission
given, to
substitute
it
throughout
the Army
of the
Potomac
for the
time-honored
call which
came down
from West
Point.
In the western armies the regulation call was in use until the autumn of 1863. At that time the XI and XII Corps were detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent under command of Gen. Hooker to reinforce the Union Army at Chattanooga, Tenn. Through its use in these corps it became known in the western armies and was adopted by them. From that time, it became and remains to this day the official call for "Taps." It is printed in the present Tactics and is used throughout the U.S. Army, the National Guard, and all organizations of veteran soldiers.
Gen. Butterfield, in composing this call and directing that it be used for "Taps" in his brigade, could not have foreseen its popularity and the use for another purpose into which it would grow. Today, whenever a man is buried with military honors anywhere in the United States, the ceremony is concluded by firing three volleys of musketry over the grave, and sounding with the trumpet or bugle "Put out the lights. Go to sleep"...There is something singularly beautiful and appropriate in the music of this wonderful call. Its strains are melancholy, yet full of rest and peace. Its echoes linger in the heart long after its tones have ceased to vibrate in the air."
Herman Meyer & Son, PO Box 4052, Louisville, Kentucky 40204 | 502.458.9569 | info@meyerfuneral.com