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Title 24USC / Chapter VII

Chapter 7 National Cemeteries

§279a Headstones for unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers, members of armed forces, reserve components, National Guard, Air National Guard, and Reserve Officers Training Corps; compilation of list; inscription of names on Memorial

The Secretary of the Army is authorized and directed to furnish, when requested, appropriate Government headstones or markers at the expense of the United States for the unmarked graves of the following:

(1) Soldiers of the Union and Confederate Armies of the Civil War.

(2) Members of the Armed Forces of the United States dying in the service and former members whose last service terminated honorably.

(3) Persons buried in post and national cemeteries

(4) Members of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States, and members of the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard, whose death occurred under honorable conditions while they were-

(A) on active duty for training, or performing full-time service under section 316, 503, 504 or 505 of Title 32;

(B) performing authorized travel to or from that duty or service;

(C) on authorized inactive duty training, including training performed as members of the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard; or

(D) hospitalized or undergoing treatment, at the expense of the United States, for injury or disease contracted or incurred under honorable conditions while they were -

(i) on that duty or service;

(ii) performing that travel or inactive duty training; or

(iii) undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.

Members of the Reserve Officers Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force whose death occurred under honorable conditions while they were -

(A) attending an authorized training camp or on an authorized practice cruise.

(B) performing authorized travel to or from that camp or cruise.

(C) hospitalized or undergoing treatment, at the expense of the United States, for injury or disease contracted or incurred under honorable conditions while they were -

(i) attending that camp or on that cruise;

(ii) performing that travel; or

(iii) undergoing that hospitalization or treatment at the expense of the United States.

The Secretary of the Army is authorized and directed to furnish, when requested, an appropriate memorial headstone or marker to commemorate any member of the armed forces of the United States dying in the service, whose remains have not been recovered or identified or were buried at sea, for placement by the applicant in a national cemetery or in any private or local cemetery. The Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force are authorized and directed to compile a list of the names of all members of the armed forces of the United States who died while serving in such forces in the overseas theaters of operation on or after September 3, 1930 and whose bodies have not been recovered or identified or have been buried at sea. Upon compilation of such list of names and other appropriate data, the American Battle Monuments Commission and the Secretary of the Army are authorized and directed to provide for the inscribing of each such name and pertinent data with respected to the individual on the wall of a chapel or other appropriate memorial erected by the American Battle Monuments Commission or by the Department of the Army. In determining the particular chapel or other memorial on the wall of which any particular name shall be inscribed, the Commission and the Secretary shall follow the general rule of having the name inscribed upon the wall of that chapel or other memorial which is appropriate in view of the circumstances under which the deceased died in the service of his country.

(July 1, 1948, ch. 791, §1, 62 Stat. 1215; Aug. 14, 1958, Pub. L. 85–644, §1(1), 72 Stat. 601; Aug. 28, 1958, Pub. L. 85–811, 72 Stat. 978; Sept. 1, 1970, Pub. L. 91–369, 84 Stat. 836; Repealed. Pub. L. 93–43, §7(a)(1), (4), (5), (7), June 18, 1973, 87 Stat. 82) provided for headstones for unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers, members of armed forces, reserve components, National Guard, Air National Guard, and Reserve Officers Training Corps; compilation of list; and inscription of names on Memorial. See sections 2306 and 2403 of Title 38.