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Honoring Veterans

Honoring Veterans

If your loved one is a war veteran, that matters to your family and to the nation. We want to help you plan a memorial that allows attendees to feel the pride we all share because your loved one served. This is a final statement to express our gratitude for their service to our country.

But not all funeral homes are familiar with what is available or willing to invest the time an energy necessary to make sure each veteran receives the proper tribute.

Military funeral honors are free of charge and mandated by law for eligible veterans. Eligibility will be verified by the veteran’s DD-214, or discharge papers.

 

Eligible members include:

  • Military members on active duty or in the Selected Reserve.
  • Former military members who served on active duty and departed under honorable conditions.
  • Former military members who completed at least one term of enlistment or period of initial obligated service in the Selected Reserve and departed under honorable conditions.
  • Former military members discharged from the Selected Reserve due to a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

 

At minimum, eligible veterans are entitled to the folding and presenting of the American flag to the next of kin, and the playing of Taps by a bugler or recording. These honors are performed by an honor guard detail that consists of at least two members of the Armed Forces. One member must be a representative from the branch in which the veteran served, and this member will be the individual who presents the flag.

 

Honors also can include a three-volley rifle salute to represent duty, honor, and country, the U.S. flag draped over the casket, and a final salute at the gravesite.

 

In addition to coordinating honors related to the service itself, we can help you communicate with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to arrange for the following.

  • A Presidential Memorial Certificate, expressing the nation's recognition of the veteran's service. The veteran's name is inscribed, and the certificate bears the signature of the President.
  • The VA provides headstones and markers for the graves of veterans anywhere in the world, and for eligible dependents of veterans buried in national, state, or military cemeteries.
  • If an eligible veteran's remains are not available for burial, the VA will provide a plot and headstone or marker in a national cemetery for memorialization. If you wish to place the memorial in a cemetery other than a national cemetery, the VA will provide the headstone or marker, but not the plot itself.
  • Burial in a VA national cemetery which includes the gravesite, opening and closing of the grave, a grave box, and perpetual care.
  • Reimbursement of burial expenses: For information on eligibility and the different levels of potential reimbursement, please review their Guide to VA Burial Allowances.

Please visit the following links for detailed information about the options available for honoring service members and other aspects of military funerals.


When reflecting upon the loss of a loved one, we rarely meet people who regret having a funeral; but some regret not having one.

If there is no gathering when a loss occurs, people must offer their condolences in the most unexpected places: at the post office, grocery store, at church, or the gym. An errand through town can be an unpleasant reminder of unexpressed grief.

Gathering with friends and family is your opportunity to share memories, words of sympathy, and create a lasting network of comfort and support as the community start the journey toward healing.

You and your family deserve that.



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Whitaker Funeral Home – Newberry
Phone: (803) 276-5000 | Fax: (803) 276-5002
1704 College St, Newberry, SC 29108

Whitaker Funeral Home - Chapin
Phone: (803) 345-9288
939 Chapin Rd, Chapin, SC 29036

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