My father served in the Navy on the USS Arkansas during WWII, he will
now be 81 on March 10th.  Many years back he told me when he passes
away he would like a military style funeral with a 21 gun salute.  He
fought hard for his Country and loves it dearly.  his health is not
doing to well as he has CHF (congestive heart failure) and I want to
make sure his wish is satisfied with his burial.  Can you tell me how
I can action this?

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 08 Mar 2006 10:16 PST

Which state is your father located?

Rainbow~

Dear policajo-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. The ?21
gun salute? is actually somewhat of a misnomer and is not the typical
salute at a military funeral. Because of that, such a request might
not be a realistic expectation ? at least not as an official act of
the government - but I will explain more about that in a moment.

In order to arrange for a Veteran Honor Guard funeral your first
course of action is locate the nearest Veteran?s of Foreign Wars (VFW)
post nearest you. Many VFW posts have active honor guards that provide
ceremonial funerals for veterans on relatively short notice. You can
locate your nearest post by using this locator tool:

VFW POST LOCATOR
http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=mbr.leveld&did=737

In the event that you do not have a post close by, I recommend you
contact the nearest funeral home and make inquires about how to
arrange for such a ceremony. Virtually all funeral homes are well
versed in this area and can assist you in making the necessary
arrangements.

Another option is to contact a military base near you if there is one
close by. Military honors or a funeral honor guard may be available
from nearby military installations and can sometimes accommodate a
family if time permits. You may also be able to arrange for a gun
salute through your local police department, who may also have an
active honor guard that is capable of assisting you with such a
ceremony.

I should tell you now that unless your father is a General Officer or
hold some particular heroic recognition, no typical ?full honors?
ceremony includes a ?21 gun salute? since that salute is reserved for
the highest honor the military could legally render. It is true
however that every veteran in good standing is entitled by law to a
funeral with military honors and while the government may not provide
the salute as part of your father?s legal entitlement you can in fact
arrange for such a tribute through your local veteran?s service
organization (VFW, etc) or other willing participant.

I highly recommend that you contact the Department of Defense and make
inquires about the ceremony and they will assist you as much as
possible to help fulfill your father?s last wishes to the extent that
it is possible in keeping with modern tradition:

?Upon the family's request, Public Law 106-65 requires that every
eligible veteran receive a military funeral honors ceremony, to
include 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 veterans' family. However,
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery
Administration cemetery staff can also assist with arranging military
funeral honors at VA national cemeteries. Veterans organizations may
assist in providing military funeral honors. When military funeral
honors at a national cemetery are desired, they are arranged prior to
the committal service by the funeral home.?
VETERANS BENEFITS AND SERVICES ? MILITARY FUNERAL HONORS
http://www.cem.va.gov/mhg.htm

This site should provide all the information you need to know about
how to arrange such an honor:

MILITARY FUNERAL HONORS
http://www.militaryfuneralhonors.osd.mil/

Questions or comments concerning the DOD military funeral honors
program may be sent to the address listed below:

Department of Defense
Directorate for Public Inquiry and Analysis
Room 3A750, The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1400

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



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Well done.