Veterans Services
A veteran's service deserves to be recognized at the end of their life, and the family should not have to fight paperwork to make that happen. Lakeside Funeral Home & Cremation Care requests military funeral honors on your behalf and helps you claim the burial benefits your loved one earned. Many Palm Beach County families choose interment at South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, and we coordinate directly with them. Call us at (561) 557-4739 and bring what discharge paperwork you can find. We will work out the rest.
Military Funeral Honors
The basic military funeral honors ceremony consists of the folding and presentation of the United States flag to the veteran's family and the playing of Taps. It is performed by a funeral honors detail of at least two members of the Armed Forces, and at least one of them will be from the branch in which your loved one served.
The honors rendered depend on the veteran's status and may be full military honors, a seven person detail, or a standard honors team detail. Taps may be played by a bugler, or by a quality recorded version when a bugler is not available. A military funeral honors team may also serve as pallbearers if the family requests it.
Who Is Eligible for Honors
Military funeral honors are available to members on active duty or in the Selected Reserve, to former members who served on active duty and departed under conditions other than dishonorable, to former 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, and to former members discharged from the Selected Reserve because of a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.
Honors are also available to members of the Commissioned Officer Corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Honors are not available to anyone separated under dishonorable conditions, anyone who was ordered to an induction station but never actually inducted, anyone discharged from the Selected Reserve before completing a first term for reasons other than a line of duty disability, or anyone convicted of a federal or state capital crime and sentenced to death or life imprisonment.
Establishing Eligibility
The preferred proof of eligibility is the DD Form 214, the Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. If you cannot find it, any discharge document showing other than dishonorable service will do. A replacement DD Form 214 can be requested with a Standard Form 180 sent to the National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63132.
For NOAA personnel, eligibility is established with NOAA Form 56-16. For Public Health Service personnel, it is established with PHS Form 1867, the Statement of Service. Bring us whatever you have and we will help you track down what is missing, along with the burial flag, the government headstone or marker, and the Presidential Memorial Certificate your family is entitled to.
