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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 11:05 AM

NICHOLS: Facts behind veterans’ final resting spots

By KENNETH NICHOLS, Community Viewpoint

After Memorial Day, members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post get a lot of questions about who gets flags placed on their loved ones’ graves. They ask why we didn’t put a flag on certain individuals’ last resting places.

The Ottawa VFW places about 1,200 to 1,500 flags on veterans’ graves on Memorial Day weekend. These flags are furnished by the VFW as a service to our departed comrades.

Yes, we will miss one or two service members’ graves every once in a while, but we try to get everyone. All veterans who served honorably in the armed forces of our country deserve to have a flag placed on their grave site at this time.

Now, the only way we know where to place these flags is to have a military flag holder or a VA marker (headstone/footstone) at the grave site. If neither of these are on the grave, then we obviously cannot put a flag there.

How do you obtain these markers?

If your loved one was a member of the VFW or American Legion, a flag holder can be purchased from those organizations.

You also can go to the county clerk’s office and get a free flag holder, but you must have your loved one’s DD214 discharge papers to prove eligibility. If you do not have these documents, you can request a copy of them from the National Archives and Records Administration. You will need Standard Form 180, a request pertaining to military records. The destination address and other information is on the form. It may take up to six months to get a reply.

Some veterans are allowed a burial allowance. To find out more, call (800) 827-1000.

There are national cemeteries where veterans and their spouses can be interred. In Kansas, there is Baxter Springs City Soldiers Lot, Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, Fort Scott National Cemetery, Leavenworth National Cemetery and Mound City Cemetery Soldiers Lot. For more information, contact the Veterans Administration.

Headstones are available through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Flat markers in granite, marble or bronze and upright markers in marble or granite are available. Placement, however, is a the expense of the family. Spouses are not eligible for these markers except when they are buried in a national cemetery.

Kenneth Nichols is an Ottawa resident and serves as adjutant for Ottawa’s VFW Post 5901.

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NICHOLS: Facts behind veterans’ final resting spots

By KENNETH NICHOLS, Community Viewpoint

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.