Comfort of closure
Veterans deserve honorable burial
Between my tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, I served with The Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery, whose primary duty is military-honors funerals.
While at Arlington, I had the honor of assisting with the burial of hundreds of soldiers—both young and old. And while burying a soldier is never easy, I know these funerals brought comfort and closure to their families and loved ones.
Regrettably, not all soldiers’ families are afforded that same opportunity to say goodbye.
While all soldiers honorably discharged by the military qualify for military-honors funerals at no cost, families are still obligated to pay funeral expenses such as caskets and urns. In 2012, Congress passed a law making financially insolvent veterans eligible for assistance with these types of burial costs through the VA.
But a small gap in that law means these veterans only qualify for that assistance if they are buried in a national veterans cemetery—one that’s maintained by federal funds.
In a state the size of Arkansas, this rule can necessitate hours of travel to reach the closest cemetery. Arkansas currently has three national veterans cemeteries: one in Little Rock, one in Fort Smith and one in Fayetteville. But the national cemetery in Little Rock is full, leaving Fort Smith and Fayetteville as the only options. Arkansas also has two state veterans cemeteries, one in North Little Rock and one in Birdeye, both of which have many burial plots available.
The consequences of this oversight are real and have a lasting impact.
Last year, Mr. Charles Duncan of Little Rock was laid to rest in a cemetery two hours from his home without his family in attendance. Mr. Duncan was a Navy veteran who passed at the age of 66. When he died, neither he nor his family were able to afford his funeral costs and had to rely on VA assistance. His adult daughter had no means of transportation and was unable to make the drive from Little Rock to Fort Smith attend the funeral.
She’s since been unable to visit her father’s grave.
Our men and women in uniform served our country nobly, and they deserve to be laid to rest with their families by their side to say goodbye. Earlier this year, I introduced the Charles Duncan Buried with Honor Act, a bill that would expand the cemetery burial options offered by the VA to financially insolvent veterans. Specifically, it changes the scope of current law to include state or tribal cemeteries for which the VA has provided a grant.
This bill is a minor but important change to current law. It comes at small cost to the VA, especially when you consider the sacrifices our veterans made and the solace this could provide their loved ones. Additionally, it would not place additional stress on the VA or its resources. Nor would it distract from their other efforts. It is a simple, straightforward change that the VA is well-equipped to handle.
The Charles Duncan Buried with Honor Act passed the Senate unanimously in September. And on Tuesday it passed unanimously in the House of Representatives. It is now on its way to the president’s desk for a signature to become law, meaning hundreds of veterans can be laid to rest with their families by their sides.
Charles Duncan wasn’t the first veteran in this position, but this change will help ensure that he is one of the last.