Planning a funeral for a veteran can often be a difficult experience, mostly because there are so many considerations involved if you want to attempt to honor the veteran's service. Listed below are just a few of the ways that a funeral home can help you plan a veteran's service.

Acquiring A Headstone Or Marker From The VA (Department Of Veteran's Affairs)

One of the biggest ways that a funeral home can help you plan a veteran's funeral is by working with you and the VA in order to arrange for a proper headstone or marker. As long as the deceased veteran did not receive a dishonorable discharge, he or she will be entitled to a free headstone. If you have already ordered a headstone or are planning to, the VA will provide you with a veteran's medallion that you can have attached to the headstone or marker.

Arranging For An Honor Guard

A funeral home will contact the closest military base to the burial location in order to arrange for an honor guard to be present at the burial. This duty is provided by volunteers who are actively serving in the military, and any eligible veteran is entitled to their presence at his or her funeral. The honor guard must consist of at least two members, and one of those individuals must be a member of the branch of service that your loved one served with. 

When the honor guard arrives, they will always deliver a folded flag to the relative of the deceased veteran. If enough honor guard members are available, they will often also act as pall bearers as needed or at your request. The number of honor guards that are available will vary depending on the size of the nearest military base, number of honor guard volunteers, and whether or not there are other funerals requiring an honor guard presence at the same time. 

Coordinating A Burial In A National Cemetery

Finally, a funeral director or funeral home staff can help you arrange to have your loved one buried in national cemetery free of charge. As long as you can provide proof of military service and a lack of dishonorable discharge to the funeral home, they will be able to coordinate with the staff of the national or veterans' cemetery to plan a memorial service and find a plot for your deceased loved one. As far as the charges go, if your loved one is eligible for veteran's benefits, then you do not have to pay for the plot or the burial. 

Contact a funeral home today in order to discuss how the funeral director and his or her staff can help you plan a funeral honoring a deceased loved one's military service. A funeral home can help you arrange for an honor guard, acquire a grave marker from the government, and even help arrange for a burial in a national cemetery.

For a funeral home, contact an organization such as Danks-Hinski Funeral Home.