Commitment continues to honor the nation’s fallen defenders

ALBANY — Honoring those who serve does not stop at the time of a service member or veteran’s death. Even when resources are tight, there is priority in providing a sense of dignity in the way we say our final farewell to those who have defended the United States.

The Department of Defense is responsible for providing military funeral honors to those who have defended the nation, a program the National Cemetery Administration says goes by the title “Honoring Those Who Served.” Upon the family’s request, the law requires that every eligible veteran receive a military funeral honors ceremony.

Honors can include folding and presenting a U.S. burial flag to the next-of-kin, the playing of Taps, pallbearing and a rifle team team for a gun salute. A military funeral honors detail is defined as consisting of two or more uniformed military personnel, with at least one being a member of the veteran’s parent service of the armed forces.

The NCA said program calls for funeral home directors to request military funeral honors on behalf of the family, and veterans organizations may assist in providing military funeral honors. Taps will be played by a bugler when one is available, but the military services may choose to provide an electronic recording in the absence of one — and the veteran’s parent service representative presents the flag.

Marvin Mixon, chair of flag services for American Legion Post 30 in Albany, said the post has helped to provide military honors for at least 50 deceased veterans in the past 12 months. There were three funerals in one weekend alone during the month of June in Camilla, Newton and Leesburg.

The post is assisted by members from American Legion Post 335 in Sylvester, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2785 in Albany, American Legion Post 182 in Leesburg and the Marine Corps League. An effort is made by those organizations to go anywhere requested within an hour drive — essentially all of Southwest Georgia.

Those organizations are often giving assistance to the Georgia Army National Guard and active military units in providing honors when limitations get in the way of offering the services that are needed, Mixon said.

“It is not just American Legion Post 30, but we head it up. We all work together,” Mixon said. “We stay within an hour drive, but sometimes we do go to the other side of I-75. We are at Andersonville (National Historic Site) often.

“We are all volunteers, but it is sometimes hard to get a full team.”

Like the others involved like him, Mixon said he considers it a privilege to honor veterans and service members in this way. For this, it is not just the veteran’s sacrifice and legacy that is acknowledged.

“I always tell the folks that the family serves like the person in service,” he said. “They sacrifice as well. It is a family thing, and it gets burdensome sometimes. That is why we do this, because we understand that.”

Mixon said about one-fifth of the services the veterans organizations in Southwest Georgia do are part of its commitment to assist the National Guard when necessary. The organizations attempt to make themselves available, and the funeral directors know how to reach them if they are needed on the usual 24-48 hours notice.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Deeds, the non-commissioned officer in charge from the South Regional Georgia Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors Team, said that after the request for honors is submitted, the mission is performed when the proper documentation is shown.

“We take it and send it to our regional coordinators,” he said.

On the team, there are both traditional and full-time guardsman. While they do it primarily for Army veterans and service members, they are capable of doing it for any branch. On average, they are involved in 250 services a month throughout Georgia — including 25 services during which full honors are given.

“It fluctuates some months more than others,” Deeds said. “In the state of Georgia, there is a big veterans population and a lot of retirees. There is a lot of ground to cover with these details.”

Resources are not infinite, but that does not prevent any veteran or service member from getting the recognition they deserve — one way or the other.

“The veterans will be honored, because if we don’t do it, the active component will,” Deeds said.

The sergeant said the team does not look at it as a job, but rather an honor to provide the service for those who have gone before them.

“We look at this as a lifestyle,” he said. “One of the things we do that is different is that we don’t wear nametapes (on our uniforms) … It is not about us, it’s about the veterans.”

Richard Todd, statewide coordinator for the team and retired guardsman, said the veterans organizations are a significant asset.

“We ask them to get involved in the program,” he said. “We want to honor veterans in the best way possible.”

Todd said the team is trained and certified to perform its duties, and with the help of veterans organizations, there are some cases in which honors can be upgraded.

“They (the veterans organizations) are a key part in what we do,” he said.

Some organizations want to get very actively involved, while others want a small part of it. The tendency, Todd said, is for them to fall into the former group — which on its own makes groups such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars vital in what the funeral honors team does.

“No veteran is going to go unhonored,” he said.

Some veterans organizations, like the ones in Southwest Georgia, are contacted directly. When that happens, those organizations communicate that request to the National Guard team. Funeral homes in remote areas will often directly contact the organizations in their areas they are familiar with, and contact with the guardsman on the team can be established that way, Todd said.

“The veterans organizations are really effective with that,” Todd said. “Even though it is a DoD directive, it is an honor for us to do it. This is a difficult time for families, and (this service) let’s them know they are not forgotten.

“It’s not just honoring (the veterans and service members) but the family’s sacrifice. Aside from it being a directive, we are committed to it.”

Providing the funeral honors is the team’s sole focus, and in the last eight years, it has done nothing but grow. It consists now of 20 active duty and another 40 traditional solders who still drill and deploy with their units — and include what Todd described as the most professional soldiers he has worked with.

“Since (2008), it has exploded with support … We are postured for success in the long-term for sure,” Todd said.

The DoD began the plan for providing military funeral honors for eligible veterans free of charge as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 on Jan. 1, 2000. Those eligible 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 and former military members discharged from the selected reserve due to a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

The NCA cemetery staff can assist with arranging military funeral honors at Veterans Affairs national cemeteries, and when military funeral honors at a national cemetery are desired, they are arranged prior to the committal service by the funeral home.

The preferred method for verifying eligibility is the DD Form 214, or Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. The DD Form 214 can be requested online from the National Archives, but if it is not available, any discharge document showing honorable service can be used.

For more information on the military funeral honors process, visit cem.va.gov.