Articles and Advice

How to Plan a Military Funeral for a Veteran in California

Have you lost a loved one who served in the United States military? We’re so sorry for your loss. We know how tough this time can be, and we also know how many military families wish to organize military honors for their loved ones.

If you’re a family member of a veteran who has passed on, we hope this article can help you learn how to get a military funeral for a veteran so they can be properly honored and remembered.

What Happens at a Military Funeral?

A military funeral honors is a funeral service provided by the Department of Defense. It’s a way to honor and thank those who served in the United States Armed Forces by giving them a dignified funeral.

The ceremony consists of folding and presenting a United States burial flag before the veteran’s casket, or burial urn is lowered into the ground. The song taps will also be performed by a military bugler.

How to Honor Those Who Served

If you wish to request a military funeral honors ceremony for your dearly departed, here are the basics of how to set up a military funeral. We would like to guide you through these steps to make it as simple and painless as possible. 

Find Out If Your Loved One Is Eligible

After completing the required forms to arrange a funeral or cremation, you must determine if your loved one is eligible for a military funeral honors ceremony. For the departed to be eligible, they must be one of the following:

• Military personnel who died while on active duty
• A veteran who served in the active naval, military, or air service and were honorably discharged
• A member/former member of the selected reserves and was honorably discharged

Contact Their Honor Guard Representative

The honor guard from your loved one’s military branch will set up the military honors. They will coordinate with you to send enough military personnel to the funeral proceedings to give a complete funeral service. 

While you can find the honor guard representative’s contact information on your own, it’s easier to ask your funeral home or cremation service to do it for you.

Choose a National Cemetery

Once the honor guard has been contacted, you should communicate the plans for the funeral proceedings with them, like when and where it will take place.

While not required for military funeral honors, your loved one may have elected to be interred or have their cremains placed in an urn vault at a national cemetery. They could have selected a large national cemetery like Arlington National Cemetery, or they may have chosen a smaller, more local one. Some national cemeteries in Southern California include:

• Bakersfield
• Riverside
• Miramar
• Los Angeles
• Fort Rosecrans

Again, if you work with a funeral home, all of this will be arranged for you and your loved one. You won’t have to worry about any of it—simply call them, and they’ll give you the details.

What to Expect

After the military funeral is planned and organized, it’s time to attend. This will be a very emotional time, an opportunity to reflect on how much your loved one meant to you. You will also be reminded of the time and service they sacrificed for their country as the funeral honors proceeds.

If this is your first time at a military funeral honors, you may not know what to expect. Here are some things to consider:

Seating

The family of the departed should be located nearest to the front to witness the flag folding. Depending on the size of the location, you may only have enough seats for family members. In that case, immediate family members (parents, significant others, children) should be seated at the front.

Saluting

Note: If you are not military personnel, you should salute by putting your hand over your heart instead of a hand salute. If you are wearing a hat, take it off and hold it over your heart.

Saluting is a sign of respect in the military. However, if you don’t salute at the right time, it may be seen as disrespectful. But don’t worry, unless you are also a member of the armed forces, no one will judge you for not saluting at the exact right times.

Generally speaking, you should salute when:

• The hearse passes by
• The casket or burial urn is moved
• Taps is performed
• The casket or burial urn is getting buried or lowered into the ground

Take Care of Your Veteran

We can’t imagine how difficult losing your loved one is and how stressful it can be to coordinate a military funeral—it can lead to some overwhelming emotions. All California Cremation is prepared to do everything we can to make this time a little easier for you.

Our veteran cremation service can make the planning side much simpler, so you have less to worry about. We’ll also be happy to answer any additional questions you may have about setting up a military funeral.