Who Gets a Full Military Honors Funeral?

A full military honors funeral is reserved for a defined group: anyone who dies on active duty, military retirees, general and flag officers, Medal of Honor recipients, former prisoners of war, and veterans awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, or Silver Star. Every other veteran with an honorable or general discharge is entitled to a more basic ceremony, but the full package, with its escort platoon, firing party, military band, and sometimes a horse-drawn caisson, is a different level of tribute.

The Three Tiers of Funeral Honors

The Department of Defense recognizes distinct tiers, and knowing where a veteran falls determines what the family can expect. Federal law requires the Secretary of Defense to provide at least a basic funeral honors detail for any eligible veteran when a family requests it.¹ The basic detail is a minimum of two uniformed service members who fold and present the American flag and play Taps, either live or from a recording if no bugler is available. There is no cost to the family.

Standard honors add elements such as a casket team and a firing party. Full military honors go further, adding an escort platoon, a military band, and potentially a caisson and cannon salute. The size and composition of the full ceremony scale with the deceased’s rank and branch of service.

Who Qualifies for Full Military Honors

Full honors go beyond the statutory minimum and are provided to a narrower set of individuals under Department of Defense policy and service branch regulations.

Active duty service members. Anyone who dies while serving on active duty receives full military funeral honors.²
Medal of Honor recipients. They are entitled to full honors regardless of their status at the time of death, whether active, retired, or separated.²
Retired service members. Retirees are entitled to full honors, though availability depends on resources. When resources are limited, they receive at minimum the basic two-person detail.²
General and flag officers. Senior officers receive the most elaborate ceremony, with the size of the escort and the number of cannon salute rounds scaled to rank.
Former prisoners of war.
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, or Silver Star.

Each military branch runs its own funeral honors program, so the exact elements and availability can vary. The parent service, meaning the branch in which the veteran served, is responsible for coordinating and providing the honors detail.

What the Full Ceremony Actually Includes

A full military honors ceremony is unmistakable. At Arlington National Cemetery, the elements include a casket team, a firing party, a bugler playing Taps live, the formal folding and presentation of the flag, an escort element whose size varies by rank, and a military band.³ Families whose loved one is eligible for a funeral escort may also request a horse-drawn caisson to carry the casket, if one is available.

The firing party typically consists of seven riflemen who fire three volleys of blank cartridges.³ This is sometimes called a “21-gun salute,” but that term actually refers to a separate artillery salute reserved for the President and certain state occasions. The three-volley rifle salute has roots in European battlefield tradition, where firing shots into the air signaled that the dead had been removed and fighting could resume.

General officers may receive a cannon salute in addition to the rifle volleys. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps generals receive a battery salute scaled to their rank: 17 rounds for a four-star general, 15 for a three-star, 13 for a two-star, and 11 for a one-star, fired at five-second intervals.⁴²

What About Everyone Else Who Served?

Most veterans do not receive full honors, but nearly all receive something. The eligibility pool for basic honors is broad and includes veterans who served on active duty with either an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions.⁵ National Guard and Reserve members and former members qualify if they were discharged under the same conditions.

One detail catches many families off guard: a general discharge under honorable conditions does qualify. The cutoff is not “honorable only.” As long as the discharge was not characterized as bad conduct, other than honorable, or dishonorable, the veteran is entitled to the basic two-person detail with flag folding and Taps.⁵

When Honors Are Denied

Some former service members do not qualify at any tier. The DoD’s funeral honors handbook lists the discharge types that disqualify a veteran:

Bad conduct discharge
Dismissal from service awarded by a court-martial
Other than honorable conditions discharge
Officer resignation in lieu of court-martial resulting in an other-than-honorable characterization

Any of these characterizations on a veteran’s record makes them ineligible for any tier of military funeral honors.⁵

Federal law adds a separate layer of disqualification based on criminal history. Under 38 U.S.C. § 2411 and 10 U.S.C. § 985, military honors and national cemetery burial are both prohibited for anyone with a final conviction for a federal or state capital crime, unless the sentence was commuted by the President or a governor. The same prohibition applies to tier III sex offenders sentenced to life imprisonment or 99 years or more.⁶ Even if the person died before being convicted, for instance by fleeing prosecution, the Secretary of the military department can still deny honors if the evidence supports the finding.⁷

How to Request Honors and Prove Eligibility

The process turns on one document: the DD Form 214, formally called the Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. It summarizes a veteran’s service history and discharge characterization, which is what the military uses to verify eligibility. If the DD-214 is not available, any official document showing honorable service, such as an honorable discharge certificate or a Department of Veterans Affairs letter, can serve as proof.⁸

The most common path is to work through the funeral director, who coordinates directly with the appropriate branch’s funeral honors office. A family member can also contact the branch directly using the Military Funeral Honors Directory. The VA recommends making the request at least 48 to 72 hours before the scheduled service so the branch has time to confirm eligibility and assign a detail.⁹ Along with the discharge document, the family or funeral director will need the veteran’s full name, Social Security Number, date of birth, and date of death.

If the DD-214 cannot be found in time, the National Personnel Records Center offers an emergency request process. The fastest route is the eVetRecs online portal, selecting “Emergency Request” from the drop-down menu. NPRC customer service is reachable at 314-801-0800 on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. For veterans being buried in a VA national cemetery, the family can call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 800-535-1117, and that office will contact the National Archives directly to pull the records.¹⁰ If burial is at a private cemetery, the next of kin can fax a signed Standard Form 180 with proof of death to the NPRC Customer Service Team at 314-801-0764. Whichever path applies, start the request the same day funeral planning begins.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1491 Funeral Honors Functions at Funerals for Veterans
2
Department of Defense. FM 3-21.5 C1 Funerals
3
Office of Army Cemeteries. Full Military Funeral Honors with Escort Burial
4
Office of Army Cemeteries. Military Honors
5
Department of Defense. Eligibility to Receive Funeral Honors
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 2411 Prohibition Against Interment or Memorialization
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 985 Persons Convicted of Capital Crimes, Certain Other Persons, Denial of Specified Burial-Related Benefits
8
Headquarters Marine Corps. Funeral Honors
9
National Cemetery Administration. Military Funeral Honors
10
National Archives. Emergency Requests