Bay County Veteran Service Office

The Bay County Veteran Service Office "assists veterans, their surviving spouse or children with determining eligibility and applying for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits"; see the Florida entry on claims assistance. Its service officers are trained and certified by the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs. Director John Deegins presented the office to the Board of County Commissioners as a community-based organisation in February 2026. What it does. Help with service-connected disability and non-service-connected pension claims, burial benefits, health care enrollment, the certificate of eligibility for home loans, vocational rehabilitation, education benefits and determining eligibility for State benefits. The office also prepares property tax exemption letters for the Property Appraiser and income verification letters for other agencies that assist veterans, and takes walk-in requests for both. Its "How To" page collects the office's guides to service-connected and non-service-connected claims, health care applications for veterans and dependents (CHAMPVA), death compensation and death pension for dependents, burial benefits, home loan certificates, education, VA forms, discharge upgrades and veterans events. Where. 840 W. 11th Street, Panama City 32401; 850-248-8280, fax 850-248-8289. The office works on an appointment basis and recommends calling first; "walk-ins are welcome, however appointments have priority". Where the "How To" page is narrower than the law (rechecked 2026-10-17). Its burial guide says the "Veteran must have been receiving either compensation or pension from the VA at the time of death" and that otherwise a veteran with "an honorable discharge" can have only a flag and grave marker. VA also pays the service-connected burial allowance for a death caused by service, and the non-service-connected allowance where the veteran was entitled to compensation or pension, had a claim pending that would have been granted, or died in VA care; and the flag and the headstone or marker need a discharge other than dishonorable, not an honorable one. See the federal entries on the burial allowance and on headstones and markers. The page also still names VA Form 21-530, which VA has replaced with Form 21P-530EZ. A family whose case does not fit the page's wording should ask the office anyway. The parade. Each Veterans Day the Board of County Commissioners, in partnership with the Bay County Veterans Council, hosts the county's annual Veterans Day Parade - on November 11, 2025 it stepped off at 8:30 a.m. from Frankford Avenue and 12th Street in St. Andrews and travelled east along 11th Street to the Bay County Government Center, followed by a 10 a.m. wreath-laying at the Government Center's main entrance. Parade applications and questions go through Veterans Services at the number above.