"The Old Guard"
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Since the founding of Old Guard Riders Inc., the assistance offered to veterans has covered a wide variety of needs. Interestingly enough, roughly 50% of that assistance has been directed at deceased veterans. In answer to the needs of deceased veterans, Old Guard Riders has initiated a program called the Deceased Veterans Services. Deceased Veterans Services includes:
Unclaimed Veterans Cremains Recovery Program Old Guard Riders Inc has been a major supporter of Unclaimed Veterans Recovery efforts. Across the United States, mortuaries, cemeteries and funeral homes store the cremated remains of men, women and children who have remained unclaimed by family. Although most state have laws that allow for the legal disposal of these cremains (cremated remains), many of these cremains remain shelved indefinitely, in the event that a family member might come at some future time to claim the remains, pay any monies owed and remove the cremains for proper burial. Some of these cremains have been stored for decades. The work of Unclaimed Veterans Recovery efforts is to locate, identify, and determine the VA eligibility of each individual cremains for burial within a National Memorial Cemetery. In order to accomplish this task, volunteers must contact each and every coroner's office, mortuary, funeral home and cemetery to determine whether the funeral provider is storing any unclaimed remains. If stored cremains are present, then a detailed inventory of the cremains must be taken to determine exactly whose cremains are present and as much information as possible to ensure correct identification. Once exact identification is made, the required information is provided to the US Veterans Administration, where the identification is checked against veterans' records to determine eligibility for interment within a National Memorial Cemetery. If the cremains are verified to be those of an eligible veteran, interment is scheduled and preparation is completed to provide military honors, as appropriate. Once the VA eligibility of an individual's cremains has been established, the Unclaimed Veterans Recovery program is generally allowed to move the remains for proper interment. However, there are exceptions. Frequently there are unpaid expenses for services which the mortuary, funeral home or cemetery provided in conjunction with the cremains. Some funeral homes are willing to waive the charges and release the remains, and some are not. The Veterans Interment Fund was set up, in part, to help cover the deceased veteran's unpaid expenses, allowing the veteran's cremains to be removed for proper military interment. Veterans Interment Fund The Veterans Interment Fund was initiated to accomplish a threefold mission:
When assisting with Unclaimed veterans remains, the Veterans Interment Fund will only cover those expenses which are considered customary and REASONABLE by industry standard. All requests for Veterans Interment Fund assistance will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and disbursed as funds are available.
Funeral Home Director with a typical storage box containing unclaimed remains. The shelf behind him contains boxes of unclaimed remains. Veterans Re-Interment Assistance From time to time, Old Guard Riders Inc. is contacted by the family of a veteran who passed away without the family's knowledge and has been interred in a county indigent cemetery or other place of deceased indigent disposal. The legal and logistical cost of exhuming the veteran's remains is usually within the $500 to $1000 range, if the process can be handled without additional fees and charges being added by those assisting. In some cases, additional unnecessary fees can run into several thousand dollars. Old Guard Riders will not only assist with the fees (as funds are available) but will assist with volunteer manpower and donated equipment as availability permits. In addition, Old Guard Riders Inc. is occasionally advised of a veteran located without family, buried in an unfit location, who is deserving burial within Arlington National Cemetery or other equivalent cemetery (See CPL Isaiah Mays Medal of Honor) Once Old Guard Riders Inc. has been made aware of the situation, the veteran's circumstances will be reviewed and a determination will be made concerning the feasibility of the effort. If a determination is made to pursue this veteran's re-interment, monies from the Veterans Interment Fund can be used to finance the project. Funeral Honor Guard & Color Guard Services For more information about these services, please see Honor Guard & Color Guard Services Funeral escort and Flag Line services For more information about these services, please see Honoring Our Fallen
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