Veterans Funeral Care

At Billings Funeral Home, we are deeply committed to those who have bravely served our nation. Our dedicated page for veterans is a tribute to the men and women who have sacrificed for our freedom. We offer comprehensive information on veterans' burial options, eligibility requirements, and the honors they rightfully deserve.

Burial Choices for Veterans

Your burial choices are Indiana’s National Cemetery in Marion or Fort Custer in Augusta, Michigan.

All honorably discharged veterans and their spouses are entitled to a free grave, outer burial container, opening and closing, and marker.

We encourage the use of National cemeteries as an honor you've earned. Local cemeteries may be used, but their charges will apply.

Eligibility Requirements

They were honorably discharged veterans serving any time before September 7, 1980.

Veterans entering service after this date must serve twenty-four months of continuous active duty or the entire time they were called to active duty.

Military Funeral Honors (MFH)

The basic MFH ceremony includes folding and presenting the United States flag to the veteran's family and playing Taps.

The ceremony is performed by a funeral honors detail consisting of at least two Armed Forces members.

The type of Funeral Honors may be Full Military Honors, 7-person Detail, or a Standard Honors Team Detail.

Eligibility for Military Funeral Honors

Military members on active duty or in the Selected Reserve.

Former military members who served on active duty and departed under conditions other than dishonorable.

Former military members who completed at least one term of enlistment or period of initial obligated service in the Selected Reserve and departed under conditions other than dishonorable.

Former military members discharged from the Selected Reserve due to a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

How to Establish Veteran Eligibility

The preferred method is the DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty.

If the DD Form 214 is unavailable, any discharge document showing other than dishonorable service can be used.

Additional Eligibility Information

Members of the Commissioned Officer Corps of the Public Health Service (PHS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are also eligible for funeral honors.

Spouses and dependents are not eligible for a Government-furnished headstone or marker unless they are buried in a national cemetery, state veteran's cemetery, or military post/base cemetery.

Honoring Veterans Worldwide

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides a Government headstone or marker for the unmarked grave of any eligible veteran in any cemetery worldwide, regardless of the date of death.

We are here to serve those who have served us. If you have questions or need assistance in honoring a veteran, please do not hesitate to contact us.