Cumberland County Burial Allowance, Headstone Allowance, Grave Flags and Honor Guard

The duties are the State's, under 16 Pa.C.S. Chapter 155; see the Pennsylvania entry on county burial and grave benefits. Funeral directors usually help with the applications; the Office of Veterans Affairs & Services is at 717-240-6178. The allowance. Cumberland pays $100 toward the funeral of a veteran with wartime service and an honorable discharge, and of the spouse of a deceased veteran, who lived in the county at death, wherever the burial. The application must be made within one year of the death, or at any time for a death in service, as the county page says. The statutory minimum is $75 each, so Cumberland pays more. Headstones. The county gives $50 toward buying or setting a government or privately bought headstone in a private cemetery, on the same one-year rule. Section 15513 makes the county provide a concrete or granite base for a federal headstone, or the lettering on a family memorial, at actual cost, approved before the work starts; a family whose cost is higher should ask the office to apply under that section. Flags. The county provides flag holders showing the war of service, and decorates each veteran's grave with a flag for Memorial Day; the flags must stay until the first working day after July 4. Its page offers holders for residents buried in the county; section 15512 covers a resident wherever buried, so a family burying a Cumberland County veteran elsewhere can ask. Honor Guard. The all-volunteer Cumberland County Honor Guard renders military funeral honors free for veterans buried in the county: greeting the remains, a rifle salute, and folding and presenting the flag. Funeral directors arrange it. Veterans who want to join call the office.