New York National Guard honor guards conducted 11,585 military funerals in 2013

New York National Guard
Story by Eric Durr

Date: 01.09.2014
Posted: 01.09.2014 07:08
News ID: 118951

LATHAM, N.Y.-- New York Army and Air National Guard military honor guards performed military funeral services 11,585 times in 2013 for deceased veterans of the Army and Air Force.

The New York National Guard had expected that its teams would perform 11,560 ceremonies by Jan. 1, 2014.

The New York Army National Guard's eight regional honor guard teams performed 9,997 military funeral services in 2013. This was three less than the 10,000 services the Army National Guard teams had projected to complete during 2013.

The Air National Guard's honor guards, one at each of the five air wings and the Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome, executed 1,588 military funerals in 2013. This was more than the 1,560 the New York Air National Guard honor guards expected to conduct.

Under federal law, any American who has served in the armed forces and was not dishonorably discharged his eligible for military funeral services during his or her burial.

The size of the detail varies from a minimum of two service members to nine or more personnel for deceased service members who retired from the military after a full career or were awarded medals for valor. At least one of the honor guard members must belong to the service the deceased service member had served in.

The National Guard is allocated funds to comply with this law.